


Out on a Limb

by TelepathicTeaTime



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: AU Where FEMC confesses to Junpei before he even meets Chidori, F/M, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, bromance or romance these two are cute as hell together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 14:22:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20098615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TelepathicTeaTime/pseuds/TelepathicTeaTime
Summary: There are a few universal key rules when it comes to how you treat your best friend: Always share your fries with them. Whisper them the answer to a question they don't know in class if you do. And most importantly of all, NEVER catch feelings for them EVER.Minako Arisato finds herself struggling after she breaks that vital rule and begins to consider a certain baseball hat wearing goofball as more than just her best bud





	1. Dissed

It was with a sickly sweet churning in her stomach and a nervous tap in her fingers that Minako Arisato realized something very strange was afoot in the S.E.E.S dorm. That was to say, it wasn’t the  _ usual  _ kind of weird that was a staple of the dorm itself. No, the weirdness she could feel buzzing like electricity against her skin had nothing to do with a possible threat of Shadows, especially considering it was eleven a.m on a bright and warm Sunday morning, about as polar opposite of the Midnight Hour as it could possibly be. It also had nothing to do with the fact that her soon to be roommate would be the android who had sought her out in the woods of Yakushima, with her pretty, delicate face and piston-like grip. 

No, what felt so weird right now...What was really rattling her confidence and making her feel so on edge was…

“Man, it’s kinda weird to have the dorm to ourselves like this, right? In fact, I don’t know if it’s happened like, ever since we started living here? Hahaha,  _ suh-weeet!  _ The dorm is totally  _ our  _ castle today! Forget just being da man...I’m totally da king!” 

Pumping his fists enthusiastically into the air with a whoop, Junpei Iori did not seem to be under the same anxious spell that was currently affecting Minako at all. Instead, responding like he did with most things that didn’t involve academics or hard work, he was openly jubilant that their fellow friends and members of S.E.E.S were all out and about for the day. With no one around to scold him for his behavior, he seemed to regress even further into his usual carefree and even child-like immaturity without apology, starting with a horrifying breakfast of greasy instant noodles and two cans of orange soda to wash it down with.

“Oh, don’t make that face at me, Mina-tan!” He scolded her with his mouth full when he caught sight of the disgusted cringe twisting up her face on the opposite side of the table, his voice booming even louder than its normal volume to echo down the hall and even up the stairs. “This totally counts as a healthy breakfast, see? There’s some eggs scrambled in here for protein, oh, you know Akihiko-senpai would approve of that! And like… I think these little bits here might be carrots? I dunno, they’re orange anyways. And there’s definitely onion in here somewhere too, I can already taste it on my breath, so I got my days worth veggies! And this?” He swirled the brightly colored aluminum can at her like royalty would do with a fancy goblet of wine before downing it in a single, chugging gulp. “Hah! No different than orange juice!” He declared smugly when he was finished, and to show off even further, crumpled the can up in his fist and sent bright orange drops exploding bright orange across the table like sugary spittle. “Buh-boom! And that’s how you do it!”

In quick response, Minako gripped a chopstick close up to her mouth like she would a microphone and gesturing toward Junpei and all his antics galore had announced in voice just as smarmy as Tanaka’s was on the TV, “You’ve heard of the breakfast of champions, folks! Now get ready for the total opposite… the breakfast of Junpeiiii! With a free pity prize in every box!”

“W-what?! Man, fuck you!” He stopped popping the tab on the second can to flip her off, managing to only make her scream with laughter in response. “You’re laughing so hard at your own joke and it wasn’t even funny! Is that something all girls do? Laugh at shit that isn’t funny?”

Pondering his question over seriously with her chin perched in her palm, Minako sat in silence for a few moments before finally shrugging her shoulders, stumped. “I dunno…” she admitted quietly with a droop of her chin, as if his question had truly humbled her...before she batted her eyelashes at him with all the innocence of a cherub hiding a pitchfork behind its wings and inquired, “How many girls laugh at you every day, dude?  _ All of them? _ ”

“Wow…” His mouth agape with the pain of betrayal, Junpei could only shake his head at her brutality, almost speechless. “That was…”

An ill-concealed smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, he swiped up the other can and popped the tab, hoisted it up high in the air like he was Lady Liberty with her guiding torch. Minako half expected him to down it himself and maybe chuck the can at her in retaliation, but instead...he tipped it her way by means of a toast, a wide grin on his face. He looked thoroughly impressed with her, almost proud, the same exact look he’d had on his face when they’d gone to Wuck together for the first time and she had polished off that large burger and order of fries all on her own. “That was brutal as hell! Maaan, leave it to the sweetest looking cuties to have the meanest hearts! Here’s to you, Mina-tan!”

It was when he pushed the can into her hands like he was presenting her with some grand trophy instead of a cheap sugary beverage that... _ It…  _ reared its ugly, awkward head and Minako felt her heart twist, flop, and drop all at once in its presence. The day had just started and it was already back to stalk her...  _ The Weirdness.  _

Normally, Junpei calling her cute wouldn’t have fazed her in the slightest. Complimenting her with a wink in his eye and a shit-eating grin on his face was something he did frequently, and from the first day they met Minako knew how to take it for it really was- not shameless flirting like everyone else in the dorm seemed to take it as, but as a joke. That was really all it was,  _ nothing more _ . She knew this like she knew all the words to her favorite song, the way she still knew what her parents had each ordered for dinner that night just an hour before they died. 

Junpei didn’t regard her as a  _ girl-girl,  _ or a  _ girlfriend.  _ She was just a girl who was his friend.

And for the longest time, Minako could say with honesty that she hadn’t minded that at all! It was fun as hell being “just one of the guys” with Junpei, truly it was. There was something liberating to be able to stand by his side and laugh so hard she snorted whenever he was crude, to be able to make him laugh just as hard in return when she said something equally shocking or gross back with a wiggle of her eyebrows. With Junpei, she could wolf down all the junk food she wanted with delighted relish and be applauded for her naturally occurring appetite rather than scrutinized for it. And it was nice to have a cute guy friend to practice her own flirting with, trying out phrases that made her giggle with how absurd they were like, “Hey stud!” and “You know, your hat would look better on my bedroom floor!”

Without any doubt, with unwavering certainty, Junpei didn’t flirt with her as he would with a  _ real girl,  _ like any of the girls that actually caught his eye and made him tip up the brim of his cap with a low, approving whistle. Rather, she was his best bud, one cool dude, the one he could jostle excitedly when one of those babes in question walked by. The closest he might have been to ever genuinely flirting with her was during their recent trip to Yakushima, when he’d seen her in her bikini for the first time and called her a “cute lil mermaid” and had acknowledged for the first time ever, that she did in fact have some curves on her!

_ “Thanks!”  _ She had chirped in cheery, pleased as punch response, the immensely irritated look Yukari shot her way for encouraging him further unsuccessful in diminishing the sudden upward spike to her mood. Of course, he had also fawned in eager, red-faced excitement over Yukari and Fuuka and Mitsuru-senpai too, but… Still, it had felt nice, like,  _ really  _ nice to see his eyes light up at her with that brand new kind of recognition. At the time, she told herself it was the bright tropical sun warming up her face and all the salty sea air mussing up her hair that made her feel so deliriously happy, being surrounded by all of her friends. Her  _ best  _ friend too.

_ But maybe then… maybe that’s where it...Why did I have to say... _

An accidental brushing of Junpei’s fingers against her palm as he handed her a drink  _ should _ have felt like nothing. Maybe kinda sweaty at the most. 

Him calling her a cutie  _ should  _ have just made her laugh, maybe have her playfully call him a total babe in return. 

But as Minako had been finding out consistently since arriving at the dorm and joining S.E.E.S… things rarely turn out as they should.

Instead, she let out a little gasp at the spark she felt between his hand and her’s, and in a desperate bid to distract Junpei from the fact she had honest to god  _ gasped  _ just because they had barely touched hands, knocked the completely full can of soda out of his grip with all the grace and tact of the world’s dumbest puppet.

“Shit!” Junpei yelped, jumping up as the can spluttered and glugged all over the table. The air between them reeked of citrus and sugar now. “Oh shit!  _ Dude!  _ Don’t just stand there looking shocked, go get a towel or something!  _ Move!” _

Scurrying down the hall to one of the dorm’s many linen closets without another word, her hands clasped tightly in front of her chest, Minako wondered why she suddenly felt like crying over something so stupid.

_ What the hell? Why did I do that? _

“Come on, girl. You know what they say about spilled milk, spilled soda…” She mumbled miserably to herself as she gathered up an armful of towels. Down the hall she heard Junpei release an incredibly irritated groan and a long string of heated expletives and with another quiet gasp, this one he definitely didn’t hear, she buried her face deep into the towels and let out a frustrated scream of her own.

  
  


And this where she found herself now, chatting with Junpei about the state of the empty dorm as if they hadn’t just been sopping up towelfuls of soda for the past fifteen minutes in tense, awkward, sticky silence. He seemed as jovial as he’d been over breakfast, if not more so now that his belly was full, not a trace of his previous anger to be found in the lilt of his voice, in the excited glint of his eyes. Passing a hand discretely over the dip of her neck, pressing at the lingering rawness in her throat from shouting into the towels, Minako wouldn’t have blamed him if he had been though.

_ What is wrong with you…? _

“So like, what’s up with you today, Mina-tan?”

Turning his celebration cheer into a hearty stretch that audibly popped both of his shoulders and neck, Junpei cast a curious glance Minako’s way when she only smiled feebly in response to his sudden question. “Like, Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko-senpai I totally understand. I know they’re with the Chairman helping to prepare Aigis for her big move in day here, you know, always so responsible and hard-working even on their  _ one _ day off, but…” His expression turned sheepish, as if he was debating if what he was about to say next was even something worth bringing up at all, but when Minako’s own smile didn’t falter, and she tipped her head in a small nod to encourage him to speak on, he admitted with a nervous scratch of his cheek, “But ahh, I’m kinda surprised Yukari and Fuuka didn’t invite you to go out shopping with them today. I thought girls always did that kind of stuff together, you know, in a pack.” 

Noticeably trying really hard to get at least one laugh out of her now, he curled up his hands into makeshift claws and clicked his teeth at her like he had a mouthful of fearsome fangs, making himself look utterly ridiculous and not caring about it at all. “Like man-eating wolves. Grrr…!”

His efforts, silly as they were, truly stirred Minako’s heart in that moment, and she felt some of the thick fog that had been clouding her thoughts disperse a little. She finally let out a laugh, a bright genuine one at that, and the release helped clear her mind enough so that she could tease him with a toothy, challenging grin of her own, recapturing some of her morning’s previous spunk, “Hahaha, oh dude, seriously? Man-eating…? If a man-eating girl ever found you, Junpei, she’d call you take-out...Taking out the trash!  _ Ohhhh!” _

Slamming one hand down on the table like she would with a winning hand of cards, Minako playfully flapped the other in her best friend’s face, whose eyes and jaw had popped open at the unexpected suckerpunch of a quip he’d been dealt.

“Say what now?! T-trash? When it comes to babes, I ain’t just some greasy cup of instant noodles, Minako! In fact, most ladies would say that I am, “ he stopped talking long enough so that he could trap Minako’s still flailing hand between his own and the table, his long fingers easily and fully eclipsing her’s, and posed the other with a flourish upon his scruffy chin, like a headshot of a magazine model, “a whole buffet…!”

While Junpei dissolved into a boisterous fit of laughter over the banter, rather than joining in Minako instead sat frozen in her chair, eyes transfixed where Junpei’s hand still tightly clasped her own. She could feel it, that... _ weirdness  _ coming back again as tall as a tidal wave and just as destructive, sloshing in her stomach and blooming warm and tingly in the apples of her cheeks. Between the sound of Junpei’s laugh, rich and full and filling up the silence of the dorm, and the sight of the delighted scrunch in the bridge of his nose, and the feel of his hand, calloused as could be from routinely swinging the heavy weight of his sword but still so warm… 

Snatching her hand back from him with enough force to startle him into silence, Minako quickly began to gather up their empty bowls and chopsticks they’d set aside from breakfast before retreating over to the sink, praying that Junpei hadn’t noticed any of the heat lighting up her entire face, the slight tremble in her fingers. Raising her voice over the flow of the sink’s tap, of the clink and clatter of washing the dishes, Minako babbled to him cheerfully to further distract him-

“But yeah, no worries, dude! Of course Yukari and Fuuka invited me out with them today. But you know, after spending all weekend at the fellowship, I just uhh… really needed a day to myself, you know? A day to just chill out and give myself a break, not do too much of anything...I’m not sick or anything. Just... _ tired,  _ I guess. Not super all here today. But um, you already saw that for yourself back there with the soda, huh? Hahaha!”

It was the honest truth. The volleyball fellowship she had just returned home from hadn’t just been a fun, relaxing visit to a beautiful inn with a hot spring. She and the rest of the team, Rio especially, had put in some serious hardwork and effort in the few days they’d been there, determined to play only their absolute best and bring some pride to Gekkoukan. Even now her legs were still kind of achey, her forearms sore from all the bumps and blasts and pushups they'd suffered under. Fighting floor upon floors of shadows within Tartarus had  _ nothing  _ on enduring one of Rio’s more extreme game plans…

“Oh yeah, I totally feel you on that one. Some days you just gotta turn away your hordes of adoring fans, kick your feet up, and do absolutely nothin’...Yeah, I hear that…"

She heard Junpei hum thoughtfully from where he remained seated at the table, followed by a strange and continuous squeaking noise, and dared to give the smallest of peeks over her shoulder at him. He was leaned out all the way back in his chair, one foot planted firmly on the floor and the other propped up against the edge of the table, which he used to gently rock himself back and forth. It was something he  _ never  _ would have dared to have done with everyone else at the dorm, openly inviting Yukari’s ire or Mitsuru’s strict disapproval, or even Fuuka’s concern that he would tip over and hurt himself. He was comfortable enough with Minako, though. He knew that he could be his true self around her, something that set her apart from the other girls in the dorm.

_ How different...how differently does he actually consider me, though? _

He had his arms tucked leisurely behind his head as he rocked, and with his eyes obscured by the brim of his cap, Minako allowed herself to stare wide-eyed and red-faced at the cut of muscles in his arms, the swell of his shoulders. With his penchant for goofing off and love of convenience store snacks, it was easy to forget how easily he managed to run around and wield a two-handed sword all throughout Tartarus, that he really was one of the stronger, more accomplished boys in gym class at school, especially when it came to playing baseball. 

Comparing him side by side with Akihiko, with his cool confidence and pretty-boy looks, it was so easy to overlook a guy like Junpei. But...Minako’s gaze softening as she continued to observe him in silent tenderness, she realized since meeting him her eyes had never strayed far from him at all.

In the same moment she also realized Junpei’s eyes were on her too, sparkling mischievously at the surely dopey look she must have had on her face.

Minako’s heart leapt into her throat and she promptly turned back around and began to scrub at the same bowl she’d been cleaning for the last four minutes, internally screaming all the while.

_ Oh shit. Had he caught her staring? How long had she been staring? If he had caught her staring, how long had he been staring back? Shit, shit, shit…! _

Tipping himself back onto the floor completely, Junpei rested both of his elbows square on the table so that he could cradle his chin in his hands. His voice suddenly much too sweet and much too coy to be up to any good, he implored her, “So what did you volleyball cuties talk about while you were up at night? Makeup? Or clothes? Or maybe...boys? Yeah, boys, right? Like maybe... _ crushes? _ ” 

_Is he fucking_ _serious? Why now! Why _this!

Either not noticing the pair of chopsticks that clattered loudly from Minako’s hand and into the sink at the mention of crushes or assuming she must have just dropped them accidentally at that same exact moment, he pressed her for further details with growing, boyish excitement. “Soooo? Come on, Minako, help your best buddy Junpei out and spill! How many babes are deeply, madly in love with me? At least thr- oh no, four! Maybe five? Siiix, maybe? Did any of them fight over me once they realized they all had a crush at the same time? I hope you assured them that there’s plenty of me to go around, you better have, Minako!”

Watching the water and bubbles swirl down, down, down into the drain, Minako didn’t have the courage to tell him the truth. There had, in fact, been one girl who admitted aloud that she had a crush on the biggest goofball at Gekkoukan. One girl who, in a room full of others giggling and gushing over who their crushes were, had suddenly found her own romantic feelings being interrogated like it was the hottest gossip around. A girl whose true feelings were kept so far back in the dark of her own mind, it took shining a giant spotlight on them to realize them for herself at all.

“Ooohhh, who do you have a crush on? There’s gotta be  _ somebody  _ that you like!”

“Uhh, well-”

“Oh, I know! It’s gotta be Akihiko, right? He’s like, top shelf boyfriend material!”

“Yeeeah! She totally has to have feelings for Akihiko. I mean, I see her with him after school like,  _ all  _ the time. It makes his other fangirls  _ soooo  _ pissed off, it’s hilarious!”

“Actually, I don’t really think of-”

“Anyone else, right? Like, who could possibly compare to Akihiko Sanada? No one else is that cute or that cool!  _ Nobody! _ ”

“....Junpei Iori is.”

“.....”

“....Huh? J-Junpei?  _ What? _ You didn’t really just say-”

“Actually, yeah.  _ Yeeeah  _ I did! I think Junpei is just as great as Akihiko is, if not better? Why would that be such an odd thing for me to say? Like, I have never met a more fun person in my life! He takes me out to the arcade, and to the movies and out to eat and we always have so much fun and have lots to talk about! He can even make something as boring as walking to school in the morning a good time, how insane is that? And no matter how often we meet up, I’m never bored when we’re hanging out together, and like, my face always aches from smiling so much after we’re done. And if he notices that I’m sad or stressed out, he seriously will not rest until he’s gotten me to laugh at least once. Or if he knows it’s something I can’t just shrug off with a joke, he’ll sit and help talk me through whatever is bothering me until I feel better about it. And even when he… he gets into one of his moods and acts like a jerk, he always owns up to it and apologizes for it.  _ Always.  _ It takes a lot of guts to do that, you know? Not everyone has that kind of courage to admit when they’ve been acting like an asshole and are willing to do something about it, but Junpei does. Yeah, he’s been an amazing friend to me from the very start...But maybe I… I think he might be more than that to me, now? Or maybe he always has been someone more to me, and I just couldn’t see it? Not until I thought he might see me as someone more, too...”

“Woah woah,  _ wait!  _ Girl, hold up! Are you serious? Are you honestly saying that-”

** _“Junpei...he’s the one I have feelings for!”_ **

  
  


Casting her gaze down into the metal shine of the sink,Minako stared miserably at the girl who had openly admitted her feelings for the one and only Junpei Iori.

“You idiot,” her reflection mouthed up at her, looking just as worried and ashamed as Minako felt, “Never  _ ever  _ catch feelings for your best bud! That’s rule number one!”

And that was where all the weirdness was coming from, a curse she herself had spoken into existence. The feelings themselves, her more than friendly feelings for one of her closest friends, had actually been bubbling in her chest for awhile now. Looking back, Minako couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment that the coin had been flipped from platonic to romantic. Maybe it happened when they were in the photobooth together in the arcade that one time, mugging the camera up with the most ridiculous expressions and poses they could muster, their arms slung tightly around the other and faces smushed cheek to grinning cheek in that tiny curtained box. She hadn't laughed that hard, had such unapologetic fun since… she couldn't even recall. She had that same photostrip taped up on her mirror even now, and whether she was getting ready for school in the morning or preparing for bed at night, it always managed to bring a smile to her face, a flutter to her heart. 

Or perhaps they began to grow in the time they spent working as a team in Tartarus, fighting side by side and learning to trust the other with their life. Maybe that sort of off the rails, matter of life or death adrenaline had served as some weird fertilizer for the uncertain thoughts most crushes start off as, those tiny sprouts of  _ ‘do I really like him? Or do I  _ really  _ like him?’  _ and mutated them into the unmistakable, heart-strangling vines Minako was fighting against now of  _ ‘Oh god, I think I might love him.’  _

In the end, she supposed it didn’t matter how or when her feelings for Junpei had changed. Whether it had happened while walking with him to school in the bright sunshine of day or running into battle in the eerie green moonlight of the Midnight Hour, what actually mattered was that they had changed at all- and on top of that, she had only made matters worse by admitting that fact out loud. She had given those feelings more power, made them that much more tangible and that much more obvious when she finally admitted them to someone else.

Because now Minako had to wrestle with a very scary thought, one she couldn’t just cut down to size with her naginata or burn away to ash with the sound of Orpheus’ harp. If she could tell a couple of her closest volleyball teammates that she liked- no, really  _ really  _ liked Junpei… could she share that fact with the boy in question himself? 

_ Could I? Should I? What if, what if, what if… _

“Boo.”

Minako screamed at the unexpected syllable being puffed into her ear, and whirled around with her fist already cocked back for brutal, nose-exploding impact. Rather than soft easy to pop cartilage, though, she instead made contact with the gentle dip of Junpei’s sternum, doubling him over with a choking, pained wheeze.

“U-uuughhh! Cr...critical hit!” He coughed as he slowly sank himself to the floor by Minako’s feet, clutching at his sides in a desperate bid to catch whatever breath was still left in him.

Her fist still held aloft in the air, Minako could only gawk at his crumpled form for a few moments before swooping down to join him on the floor. “Junpei, dude! What the hell?!” She admonished him in disbelief as she began to rub wide, slow circles into his back, encouraging his breathing to return back to its normal rhythm. “You  _ know  _ better than to sneak up on me like that! I am all fight and no flight and you  _ know that,  _ dude!”

“S-sorry, sorry…” Junpei apologized with a rasp, despite being the one who had been punched square in the chest and left wheezing on the floor. “You...ugh, you had totally spaced out and didn’t seem to hear a word I was sayin’. I just wanted to get the drop on you, but uhhh, haha-” his chuckle made him wince in pain, but he managed a small ironic smile nonetheless. “Looks like the only one who got dropped was me. Biiig surprise there.”

Returning his grin with a sheepish, apologetic smile of her own, Minako offered him the crook of her elbow to help get him back to his feet. “I’m so sorry, Junpei. I have no idea what’s up with me today, why I’m so jumpy. For real, are you alright?” 

He accepted her help with much more grace than he had her punch, letting her lead him into a half-standing crouch with her own strength alone before bracing himself against the sink in a partially recovered slouch. “Actually,” he admitted once his breathing had finally gone back to normal and it didn’t hurt him so much to talk, “I wanted to ask you the same thing.”

Minako blinked at him in confusion, before bringing the back of her striking hand up to her face for closer inspection. There were no bruises blooming in the dips of her knuckles, no pressure in her fingers. For being delivered so unexpectedly, it had been a very good, clean hit. “Uhh, yeah? I’m totally fine. By some miracle of God, your rock hard abs didn’t manage to break my fingers. Haha, thank goodness!”

When Junpei didn’t banter, or even smile back at her in return, Minako understood that he was being serious and let the teasing smile slip from her face, her fingers beginning to fidget with the headphones hanging red as cherries at her chest. “Hmm? What do you mean? Do I not seem alright to you?"

“Weeell…” Dropping his gaze from her face down to his socked feet, Junpei reached up to spin his cap around backwards atop his head, like the brim was suddenly in the way of his train of thought. “Well, yeah, kinda. And yeah, yeah, I know you just mentioned that you’re all worn out from playing volleyball for a couple of days straight, and I totally get that you’re probably just tired, but…”

He closed his eyes and rubbed at the back of his neck with a deep sigh, obviously not in his usual element by being so serious. When he finally reopened his eyes and looked back her way, there was a gentle, almost sad smile on his face. “I don’t know, maybe I’m way off base here, but I just feel like you’re struggling with more than what you’re actually saying is all. C’mon, tell me. Am I wrong?”

In the face of such genuine concern, Minako, who had already been preparing her sunniest, happiest smile to offer as proof that she was completely fine and that Junpei was worrying over nothing, suddenly couldn’t remember how to properly pull it off. She tried anyways, the corners of her mouth twitching up like they were tied to flimsy string, but the dip of Junpei’s brow told her how obviously bullshit the whole act was, and she looked away like a child who been caught telling a lie.

It was rare for her to be at a loss of words, but she didn't know how to best respond to his concern. Not without lying to him, anyways. Turning towards the sink once more, she began to idly poke and pop the few soap bubbles that still remained around the drain. As if waiting for her to return at this very moment, her reflection glared daggers up her way in fierce warning and silently hissed once more for emphasis-

** _'Rule. Number. One.'_ **

Clearing her throat to help ease the sudden tightness crushing down around it, Minako opened her mouth, ready to make whatever excuse she had to in order to ease Junpei's concerns, when he suddenly shuffled closer and leaned back beside her, elbow to elbow and close to her side, she staring into the sink and he gazing out into the dining room. Whatever he was about to say to her, it seemed he figured it would be easier if they weren't directly face to face for it.

"Now, I'm not usually one to fuss but just hear me out on this one, okay Minako? I know that as our Leader, you got a lot of responsibility to carry on your back. You're always looking out for everyone, and… and everyone knows they can depend on you, no matter what."

There was a flash of something dark and cold in Junpei's voice at that, as quick as the flip of a switchblade, before he seemed to catch the tone in his own ears and coughed deeply to cover it up. When he spoke again, his voice was once again warm and peaceful, an olive branch as opposed to a blade.

"And, I think when you're so busy making sure everyone else is alright all the time, it can be real easy to lose sight of yourself and wear yourself down. It's one of the downsides of being such an awesome girl like yourself, of carrying around something as heavy as a heart of gold in your chest all the time. Not being able to rest if ya feel like someone needs your help, which seems to be like all the time for you! Ya know, it's just like letting yourself drown after shoving everybody else's ass into a lifeboat and leaving no room for yourself to climb aboard with 'em." He nudged her slightly with his elbow, just barely watching her reaction from over his shoulder. "Not the best metaphor, but you get what I'm sayin', right?"

" Yeah…" Minako offered Junpei a watery smile, eyes gleaming with tears of gratitude and a deep swell of adoration that threatened to burst her heart completely, and joked back so that she wouldn't start crying in front of him for real, "You're saying I should tear up the tickets I bought for that cruise, right? The one on the Titanic 2? Damn, and I was gonna invite you to go with me!"

"What? No, you idiot! Quit acting like such a goofball, would ya?" Junpei scoffed and rolled his eyes at her lame joke, even going as far as to bump her hard with his shoulder for trying to downplay the serious moment occurring between them, but seeing that his words had not just reached her but actually moved her as much as they did, offered her the handkerchief stashed in his pocket with a lopsided grin and a warm look in his eyes. When she reached up to take it from him, he surprised her by suddenly latching on to her wrist, no slack to be found in his grip at all.

"Uhh…?" Her eyes darting from the sight of her hand trapped in his to the stern expression clouding his face, if Minako hadn't known him any better she might have been a little freaked out.

"Hey Minako, just…" He didn't meet her eyes as he spoke once more, and there was a subtle twitching in his jaw, a peculiar pinch in his brow that conveyed some deeper thought or feeling he wasn't sharing with her aloud was running amok in his brain, "Just promise that you'll take a page from my book and be selfish once in awhile, alright? Just have some fun and look out for yourself, I promise it'll do ya a lot of good. And if you ever need any help or someone to lean on…"

Uncoiling his fingers from her wrist so that he could pull them into a tight fist, he offered it to her with his usual upbeat, megawatt smile and a promise Minako knew she could trust with her life. "You already know I got your back, dude!"

"Y-yeah! Thanks, Junpei!" Dabbing quickly at her eyes with the offered hanky, Minako returned his grin with a genuine one of her own and a laugh that only wobbled at the edges a little bit. She accepted his fist bump with an enthusiastic flourish, and after they exploded it, puffing out their cheeks and hissing through their teeth to make the dumb noises and everything, she flung her arms around him in a tight embrace.

She just felt like she really needed a hug.

"Really, Junpei. Thank you." She mumbled into his chest, the pendant hanging from his necklace cool and smooth on her cheek. She could feel his heart beating in a normal, steady rhythm in her ear and could only pray he couldn't feel the wild jackrabbit thump of her own in return. 

_ Now. I can kill this Weirdness right now just by being honest with him. I have to tell him right now that he's the one I like… I  _ want  _ to tell him right now…! _

"H-hey, Junpei?" Clenching her arms around him just a little tighter, pressing her face just a little closer against him, she mustered up all her courage and slowly tried to let the words flow out. "I just wanted to tell you that… Umm, that I think you are… That you're-"

"Minako, it's okay. You don't even have to say it.  _ I already know."  _

Heart stopping on a dime, she froze as his hands found their way atop her slim shoulders and gently peeled her off of him just enough so that they could look each other in the face. He wore a wide, easy going smile, and his eyes were shining down at her in gray starlight. 

Prince charming in a baseball hat instead of a crown.

Her breath hitching in excitement, her face already flushed, Minako replied with a gasp that was equal parts shocked and stoked, "You do? Really?!"

"Of course I do." Junpei nodded, and with a chuckle, raised his hand as if to place it tenderly upon her cheek… 

Only to plop it without ceremony atop of her head and ruffle up all of her hair in an aggressive noogie, sending her silver hair pins askew with a loud and confident laugh. 

"Of course I know that I'm da man! Giving out all this great advice and being such a supportive friend… Hoo boy! I exceed even my own expectations sometimes, hahaha! Y'know, you're real lucky to have a best friend like me, Mina-tan! Uhhh… Minako? H-hey? Where are you going? Back up to your room to lay down? You do look kinda sick, your face is all red and splotchy… In a uhhh, totally cute way of course! Ahaha...ha. Umm! If you feel better after your nap, there's something I was thinkin’ about showin’ ya! I'll come stop by your room-"

** _Slam!_ **

"...Later?"


	2. Kissed

True to his word, Junpei came knocking at Minako's door about two hours later. In the time in between, buried deep and humiliated within the cave she had burrowed for herself out of all her blankets and pillows, Minako listened on as he took full advantage of the empty, and therefore  _ ruleless,  _ dorm at his disposal. 

She heard him slide down the staircase banister with a loud drawn-out whoop, followed by the wall-shaking crash she'd counted down to the exact second of happening. Beside the sound of his body being tossed like a sack of rocks to the floor, she also heard the crack of a picture frame popping loose from the wall, the musical like shatter of a vase toppling to the floor.

"Owww!" His pained groans came floating up through the floors slow and heavy at first before they became up in shrill panicked bursts, "Ooohh- oh no! Oh shit, oh shit! Mitsuru-senpai is gonna execute me for this! Shit, shit,  _ shit!  _ Broom...where is a broom?!"

After cleaning up the mess he'd made, he apparently decided it was time to clean himself up next, and she listened to the familiar clang and hiss of the dorm's old water pipes delivering him his hot water right beneath the floorboards. And whether he was doing it on purpose to make her laugh or genuinely believed she couldn't hear him just a mere floor up, considering it was Junpei either option was equally viable, even in her emotionally wounded state Minako had to bite back a bemused smile as he sang incredibly loud and even more incredibly off-key during the course of his shower. 

"Ohhhh, don't you put me on the back burrrnerrrrr! Oh yeah, you know you gotta heh-elp me out, yeeee-ahhhh!"

It wasn't until the slam of his bedroom door came echoing up the stairs did the dorm finally go silent, and with no further hijinks for her to eavesdrop on, Minako finally poked her head out from under the covers to stare morosely up at her ceiling, a sad and quiet song whispering through her headphones and flowing all the way to her aching heart.

She was well aware that she had crossed the delicate line between sorrow and self-pity the second she had thrown herself back into bed, how unfair it was for her to be feeling this way, acting as if Junpei had outright rejected her when she hadn't properly confessed her feelings to him at all.

That considered, maybe rejected wasn't the right way to describe how she was feeling about what had happened, or rather,  _ not happened, _ in the kitchen after all. Her usually confident ego was bruised, that much was for sure. And even though she was painfully aware that Junpei was oblivious as all hell to the moment he had ruined, she still felt angry with him all the same, almost betrayed, even. 

"That idiot…" she mumbled into the pink and red checkerboard of her blanket, her brows pinched tight in frustration. "Interrupting me like he knows exactly what I'm thinking! Well, he doesn't! Not at all…" She flung an arm over her face like she was some sort of spoiled, dramatic brat and the motion, combined with the sinking feeling of guilt for calling Junpei an idiot behind his back after he had been so kind and supportive of her, only made her feel that much worse. 

Glumly, she realized that it would be impossible to expect him to be mindful of something that had probably never even crossed his mind. Why would he ever suspect her of liking him as more than a friend when the thought of them being anything more was too strange to even consider?

Something about that particular thought struck her as hard as a punch to the stomach, and she nearly whined aloud with the sudden pain of it. Mortified with herself, at the astounding depth of her own weakness, Minako threw the covers back up over her streaming eyes and aching head and turned her music up and up and up, until her thoughts were just noise, her pain lost in the ebb and flow of pure sound.

Completely used to falling asleep even with a racket going on in her ears, Minako must have dozed off after her muffled cry because the sound of Junpei pounding enthusiastically at her door startled her enough to nearly topple her out of bed with a shriek.

"Yooo, Minakoooo! You awake?? C'mon, let's do this shit, dude!!"

Rubbing at her swollen eyes with a groan, Minako stumbled out of her tangle of blankets disoriented and bare-legged as she began to search the floor for her discarded white skirt. "Junpei, jeeeez! Gimme a second, would you?!" She shouted towards her bedroom door, which Junpei seemed determined to batter down with the force of his nonstop pounding.

He surprised her by happily chirping in response, "Oh, okay!"and actually easing off of her door, seemingly content to wait for her patiently out in the hall...until a literal single second passed and he announced with great enthusiasm, "Ding! Time's up!" And began his spastic knocking once more, laughing all the while.

" _ God!  _ You are  _ such _ a smartass!" She declared through peals of good humored laughter as she finished getting redressed, oddly unaware of how quickly her mood had already shifted for the better now that Junpei was right outside her room. In the short walk she took from the foot of her bed to the explosion happening at her door, her hair pins danced silver and light in her fingers as she quickly arranged them back into her hair.

"The smartest!" Junpei quipped back as she finished smoothing out her clothes, her fluffy bangs. Hearing her approaching the door, he finally stopped knocking for real.

Smirking devilishly, Minako reached out as if to finally let him in...and instead began to furiously rain her fist down against the door herself, hearing his yelp of surprise echo all the way down the hall outside.

"Junpei!"

_ Knock knock knock! _

"Junpei, what the hell, let me in!"

_ Knock knock knock! _

"Junpei answer the door you doofus! Let's do this shit, dude! I'm waaaiiiting!"

Quickly recovering from being caught so off guard, he didn't even miss a beat as he began to knock back from the other side in a wild panic.

"Minako! You gotta open the door!"

_ Knock knock knock! _

"This ship's gonna sink any minute! We gotta get to the lifeboats now!"

_ Knock knock knock! _

"Minako, the water is already so high! Please, open the door! Please- oh you took too damn long and now I'm gonna die out here, promise you'll never let me go ugggh-  _ blphblpblbhhh…" _

Smiling ear to ear, she listened to him slump dramatically against her door as he died a hero's death out in the hall. When she finally turned the lock and swung the door open to greet him, she shrieked with laughter as he remained limp and free-fell into her arms, all dead weight and noodle-limbed against her. “Ahhh-hahaha! Junpei you dumbass, get off of me! You’re heavy! And why are you talking about lifeboats again?!” 

Now Minako was rather strong for a girl of her size, her arms muscular and capable from both her time spent in volleyball as well as wielding her naginata, but Junpei was much taller than her and that alone caused her to bow backwards beneath his lanky body as she stumbled them around in a ridiculous dance, screaming and laughing all the while as she struggled to keep them both upright.

“I swear to god I’m gonna drop your ass, I mean it! And then you’ll hit your head and you'll be dead for real and we’ll have to clear out your room and you know who’ll end up finding your porn stash, dude?  _ Fuuka!  _ You really want pure, sweet, innocent Fuuka to see all that nastiness you got stashed under your bed? Those teachers in their skimpy lil maid aprons-”

A corpse had never reanimated so quickly in its undead life as Junpei did in that moment, his eyes snapped open wide and humiliated. “Alright, alright, alright! Stop! I’ll stop if you stop! Just, shuddup! Shut up about  _ that! _ ” Shouting even louder than Minako had been, Junpei finally shoved himself off of her in a red faced fluster, pulling his cap low over his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see the impish, victorious grin she was flashing his way. Bringing this particular incident up was her ace in the hole when it came to besting Junpei in being annoying, and she wasn’t afraid to wield it as needed. “Jeez… you promised you wouldn’t bring that stupid shit up again! Like I already told you a million times, it wasn’t even  _ my  _ magazine. I was holding onto it for someone else!”

Minako watched as he stomped over to her desk and threw himself down in the chair with a childish huff of embarrassment, began booting up her computer without even asking for permission. 

“Oh yeah, for who? Ms. Toriumi?” Minako teased him further, secretly reaping her sweet vengeance for earlier in the kitchen. When Junpei turned back to stare at her completely aghast, his face twisted in near-theatrical disgust she wiggled her brows at him suggestively. “Something to use as reference next time she keeps you after class for your  _ special lessons _ ?”

And though it could not be any more obvious what she was implying, just to piss him off more she deadpanned, "Sex, I'm totally talking about sex right now."

"Uhh yeah, no shit!" Slowly turning around in the chair to openly glare at her, his mouth twisted up like he was about to be sick all over her keyboard, Junpei admonished her like he had always been the more mature one of the two, “Minako, what the hell is wrong with you? That’s so nasty, man.  _ You _ are nasty, man! You’re...you’re worse than some old man! You pervert! Seriously, what the hell…? Who would ever actually… with their own teacher... _ Gross! _ ” before he turned back to whatever he was doing with a disapproving shake of his head. Almost under his breath but just loud enough so that he knew she would hear it, he mumbled, “Weirdest girl I’ve ever met!”

So caught up in acting out their usual antics, of being able to be as unapologetically silly and weird as she could possibly be when she was with him, for a moment Minako was able to forget the horrible trap she had set up for herself within her heart and declared almost smugly to his turned back in response, “And you know you love me for it!”

It was when Junpei turned just enough to shoot her a wink from over his shoulder and agree breezily, “Yeah yeah, you already know it. But I know that you love me too so we’re totally even!” did that trap snap painful and tight in her chest once more, rooting her to the spot as effectively as an actual snare would've done.

_Yeah, you're right. I do. _She thought, staring at the back of his head with a thumping heart and blushing cheeks. _I really do,_ _and that's the whole problem…_

“Hey, what’s your problem? Stop spacing out and come enter your password! I’m trying to finish setting up your surprise for you, y’know? Or just give it to me if you wanna keep working on your zombie routine over there that badly, or whatever.”

The slight catch of irritation simmering in Junpei’s voice brought Minako back from the brink of falling deeper into her worrisome thoughts, and with a startled blink and a forced smile she tried desperately to recapture the easygoing mood she’d been in just moments ago. “Hahahaha, sorry dude!” She apologized blithely as she scurried over to finally join him at her desk, clapping her hands before her chest in request for his forgiveness. “I was... I was, hmmm...you know, working on my impersonation of the Lost? Yeah! Hahaha, yeah! You know the one lady that always ends up outside the dorm-oh!”

He had instinctively stood up from her chair as she approached and offered her the seat instead, his hand just barely ghosting over the back of her shoulders to steady the chair as she sank down into it in his place. He seemed to have no qualms whatsoever about having to now stoop low over the desk, of having to be in some discomfort as long as she was comfortable herself. 

It was such a small thing, really, one he himself didn’t even seem to think twice about- and it spoke volumes about his true character. Through and through, Junpei really was a typical teenage boy on the surface- boorish, loud-mouthed, quick to temper and even quicker to joke, but… his heart was golden and kind. When it really mattered, and even in quiet, fleeting moments just like this one when it didn’t, he was a genuinely sweet person.

Turning her face downwards towards her keyboard so Junpei couldn't see the warm affection for him being broadcast across her face in a pink glow, she was smiling as she finally logged them into her account. Over the quiet tapping of the keys, with a sweet smile on her face, she did murmur to him gently, "Thanks, Junpei. You know, not just for this...whatever this is. But you know, for everything. You mean- uhh, I mean,  _ it! It  _ means a lot. To me. Yeah. You're awesome, dude."

She punctuated this with a playful bop to his arm, to show that nope, this wasn't some mushy near-admittance of hidden feelings happening here but just one buddy being nice to another. Not a romance! A  _ bromance.  _ No weirdness here at all!

Junpei didn't even bat an eye at her awkward delivery, and instead seemed to soak in her soft-spoken gratitude with a swell of self-confidence. "Heheh, I am pretty awesome aren't I?” He agreed readily, stroking smugly at his goatee like it had somehow contributed to his ‘cool’ factor. “And trust me, you're only gonna believe that more once you seeeee-" he reached over and around into his back pocket and presented to her with an over the top flourish, "Ta da da daaaa!  _ This!" _

He pushed a small box eagerly into her hands and Minako found herself staring down at a red-skinned devil woman with a big hulking axe slung over her shoulder, her breasts swelling huge and bulbous out over the tiny spike-encrusted bikini that served as her armor. 

There was a moment of breathless horror where her brain completely short-circuited and she honest to god believed that Junpei had presented her with some sort of hentai dvd, and what that might have implied she couldn’t even begin to consider in her current emotional state… But then she took a deep deep breath, and reread the cover again to find with immense relief that it wasn’t porn at all.

It was just some sort of computer game.

"Innocent Sin Online…?" Minako recited aloud from the tacky pink font splashed across the cover, dubiously flipping the case over in her hands to examine the back to see if it looked any better from there. It didn’t. The devil woman was now joined by a glowing moon-skinned woman wielding a sword with big feathery wings and even bigger boobs. Unlike her demon counterpart, though, she had skipped out on the bikini armor for a more  _ practical _ see-through lingerie nightie instead.

Turning the case over in her hands, Minako sniffed loudly. “Hmm. Junpei?”

“Yeah? Doesn’t it look so awesome? Aren’t you stoked to try it out?!" He was practically bouncing on the spot he was so excited for her approval.

“Dude.. _ . _ hahahaha,  _ no! _ What in the world is this?” Minako burst out into rambunctious laughter at the absurdity she was cradling in her hands, crumbling herself over the game and into her lap with shoulders shaking and feet kicking wildly over where they didn’t quite reach the floor. “W-what do you even  _ do  _ in a game like this? Fight to the death over who has the bigger boobs? Dude, this game looks so, hahahaha- oh hey! Junpei!  _ Noooo! _ No take backsies, dude!”

Using both his standing position and gangly limbs to full advantage, Junpei had trapped her tightly under his one arm from over the top of the chair and used the other to snake its way around her shaking sides and snatch the game back for himself. “Nuh-huh!” He challenged her with a defiant shake of his head, holding the game aloft way above his head where her reaching hands couldn’t swipe it back from him, “Take backsies are totally fine when the other person is being  _ soooo  _ ungrateful for what they got! Only a total brat wouldn’t know that rule!" He poked his tongue out at her in response to the overly exaggerated, bratty pout she was currently hamming up his way with before turning a look of nostalgic fondness toward the game itself. “Maaan, you don’t even get it Mina-tan! This had been one of my favorite games for  _ years!  _ No joke, it’s actually a lot of fun once you get into it! I kinda stopped playing myself once the servers started emptying out and there were less and less people playing it but…” He shrugged and reassured her brightly, “I bet it still holds up really well! Come on, scoot over, give a guy some room!”

Despite her outright mocking of the apparent MMO  _ masterpiece  _ that Innocent Sin Online actually was, Junpei settled in beside her in a crouch and began installing it onto her computer anyways. “Can’t knock something til you try it, right?” He asked her with a cheeky grin and a nudge to her side. He seemed so genuinely excited for her to try the game, just like he was still a kid, and Minako couldn’t help but smile in return, albeit with a playful roll of her eyes.

“Okay, okay! Hahaha, jeeez! If it really means that much to you, dude, I’ll at least give it a shot! But I want my character to have  _ real  _ armor! Most boobs aren’t sword-proof, y’know!” She promised cheerfully, his excitement so infectious even she was starting to feel it in her own chest, the sensation as colorful and swooping as a dizzy bird in flight.

Junpei snorted. “Most? Are you saying there’s boobs that are, in fact, sword proof? Are  _ your’s? _ ”

Whacking him with the back of her hand, Minako insisted, “No, of course not mine! But Aigis’ are, actually! I felt them for myself when she was hugging me and wouldn’t let go back in the woods at Yakushima. All metal, swear on my life!”

Junpei threw his head back and laughed with blushing cheeks. “Niiiice! Maybe that’s something I’ll get to experience for myself once she’s all moved in? Human, robot, doesn’t matter! As long as she’s cute, a babe’s a babe….Hmm! Anyways! As much as I love talking about the ladies, we’re getting way off track here! We gotta discuss god's  _ second  _ greatest gift to mankind after girls, and that’s video games, dude!”

Making himself more comfortable for the task at hand, Junpei leaned a little closer into her side for more support, sealing up their sides together shoulder to hip, and began to explain in great enthusiastic detail everything Minako would need to know in order to enjoy Innocent Sin to the fullest.

“Okay, step one! As soon as the game’s done installing, you gotta design the character you’re gonna wreck everyone else’s shit with! And that means choosing your race and your class. I myself was a super badass dragonborn mercenary specializing in two-handed weapons and fire magic, but you can choose between all sorts of different stuff! Like…”

As Junpei babbled on, oblivious that her attention was beginning to stray from the computer screen, Minako allowed herself to tip her head back and observe him without a second thought, without shame. The dancing line of his mouth, the little jump on his throat as he spoke, the clean freshly showered scent coming from his skin memorized her as if she'd been slapped by an especially potent Marin Karin. But this was no evil spell, and what she was feeling for Junpei right now was something that could not be so easily cured away or waited out.

_ Just a little bit ago I was literally crying my eyes out in bed. And here I am laughing it up and having a blast like this morning never even happened. Junpei is so… he makes me so happy! _

Drunk on a sudden and overwhelming rush of affection for him and with a faint smile dancing on her lips, as if possessed Minako raised her hand up between them and tender as an early morning whisper brushed her fingertips against the line of his jaw.

Junpei's reaction to her touch made it seem much more like she had suckerpunched him instead.

"W-woah!" He yelped, nearly sending her toppling from the chair with the force in which he jumped up and pinwheeled away from the desk with. She scrambled to land on her feet and stay upright and he scrambled to clutch at her arm to help her do so successfully, their limbs flailing all over the place and each other.

For a hectic moment that seemed to stretch on its merry miserable way for years, Minako’s room swelled with a sudden abundance of noise- of the chair crashing into the floor, of the desk rattling as Minako braced herself against it to keep herself from joining said chair on the ground, and of her and Junpei’s voices crying out in twin concern and apology.

“Oh shit, are you alright?! I’m so sorry-”

“I’m so sorry, are you okay-”

They both paused to let the other speak, but that pause soon grew into a suffocating silence as one waited patiently for the other to go first. When it seemed like the room would implode against the horrible weight of it, they both took a deep breath each and rushed to break it themselves-

"So what were you-"

"Oh go ahead-"

They stopped again, absolutely stonewalled at the sudden tension between them, and it seemed like they were about to endure another horribly awkward silence when Junpei killed it with a small forced laugh from the back of his throat, taking the initiative to simply go ahead and speak first. 

"Haha, man! That was weird! The whole speaking at the same time thing I mean! You, umm, touching my face like that wasn't weird or anything like that! Just… really caught me off guard is all, hahaha!"

He'd been rubbing at the back of his neck as he nervously rambled on, but then his eyes lit up in sudden realization and his hand flew forward to slap at his chin instead. "O-oh! I see what you were doing now! Did I have some crumbs in my goatee from the chips I was eating earlier? Heheh, that happens to me all the time! Thanks for lookin' out for a slob like me, Mina-tan!"

He began to brush at his chin and mouth just in case she had missed any of the (non-existent) crumbs left on his face, while Minako stood in silence a million miles away and thought harder than she'd ever thought about anything before.

She felt like she was balancing precariously on top of a tree branch splitting in two very different directions high above the ground.

The arm of the one branch was thick and sturdy, and would lead her right to the massive trunk of the tree where she would be able to safely climb her way back to Earth. The wind rustled through the bright bushels of leafs adorning the branches and in the sound she could hear her own voice, teasing and carefree. "Yeah, dude, so many crumbs! Haha, jeez, did any of the chips actually make it into your mouth at all? I'm gonna have to make you a bib next time I'm in sewing club!"

This way was as safe as it was dishonest. She wouldn't scrape up her knees or bloody up her heart climbing down, but all the bravery she had to muster to even make it up this far would have been for nothing. But at least Junpei would be waiting for her with a smile there, as sure as the roots of the tree itself.

As for the other branch…

It was as flimsy and weak as a cheap fishing rod, and trailed out into the open air with all the confidence of a stammered whisper. To take even a single step out onto this branch was surely asking to crash and fall hard right on her face, to sink herself in a grave she had dug for herself in the hungry Earth waiting down below. There’d be a little tombstone jutting out like a rotting tooth and all, and Minako knew exactly what it’d say on its cold stone face.

_ Minako Arisato. MADE THINGS REALLY WEIRD WITH HER BEST FRIEND BY MAKING HIM REJECT HER OUT LOUD.  _

But out on that branch, oh if she was dumb enough to even risk it...was an abundance of sunlight and wind. It was the perfect branch for birds to share their love song for all to hear, for spring blossoms to bloom sweet and fragrant and new from the buds they’d started from. It was the perfect opportunity for something wonderful to begin… 

If only she dared.

Minako blinked hard and found Junpei peering into her face quizzically, his open palm wavering just inches from her face. “Uhhh, hey? Ground Control to Space Cadet Minako, ya still here? Are you sure you’re alright? You’ve been zoning out all day like this, it’s kinda freakin’ me out.”

“Yeah, I’m…” She stared into his eyes as openly as she would gaze out a window, the smallest ghost of a smile tugging at her lips. In her mind’s eye, her feet were already pointed decidedly toward one of the branches, and she was ready to move. “I’m here, and I swear that I’m fine. Totally fine. But umm, actually, Junpei? About what just happened? With me, you know, touching your face out of the blue like that? I…”

Just like he had done down in the kitchen earlier, Junpei playfully ruffled her hair and blew a raspberry through his lips to dismiss her concerns. “Pfft, that? Come on, Minako, don’t even worry bout that! It’s really no big deal, you just spooked me a bit is all. I shouldn’t have freaked out like I did. I guess maybe Yuka-tan is rubbing off on me a bit, huh? Hey, speakin of! You know what would be  _ so _ funny? What if we put on white sheets, y’know, to look like ghosts! And then we waited for her in her room til she got back home? Ohhh man, she would  _ freak!  _ Hahahaha, c’mon Minako! Whaddaya say? This will be one for the books!"

_ No. No no no no no! No way! _

She wasn’t going to let him steer her away from what she really wanted to say. Not this time, not again. So ignoring his suggestion completely, and the obliviously expectant look on his face, she repeated herself one more time, loud and clear.

“Junpei. About just now? Actually… I really wanted to kiss you."

Her statement loomed as large and dangerous between them as a stalagmite hanging above their heads, threatening to fall apart and crush them both the longer it sat unaddressed up in the air, their mutual silence only chipping away at its already crumbling base.

Though Minako wanted nothing more than to duck her burning face into her hands and scream in disbelief that she had actually honest to god just admitted to Junpei that she wanted to lay one on him out loud, she stiffened her lip and held her chin up high and forced herself to directly witness his initial reaction with her own two eyes.

It seemed to take a minute for her words to really sink in for him. Inch by inch his carefree megawatt smile slipped from his face, faltering into a tiny stitched up thing that seemed unsure if it should continue to just barely hang on or disappear completely. He was blinking at her owlishly too, the bright gleam of understanding that had been lighting them up just moments ago having flickered out entirely, leaving his face looking like a house with no one living in it.

But while Junpei made no effort to  _ say _ anything in response, at least not at first, he did at least finally make a move.

Slowly, like Minako had abruptly transformed into some sort of rabid predator that would rip him limb from limb if he moved too fast, a man-eating wolf girl in the flesh, Junpei retracted his trembling hand from atop her head to poke and prod at his ears. “Hahaha, um- I’m sorry, dude. You know how I got hit with that Garu blast when we were tearin’ up Tartarus the other night before your trip? You know, that lucky shot that sent me flying legs over ass? My hearing has been so fucked up since then, I’ve been having, umm- I’ve been hearing, or I guess like,  _ not  _ hearing things right at all since then. I know this is gonna sound so crazy but uhh, just now I thought you said that… haha, that you wanted to kiss me? S-so weird, right?! Of course that's not what you said! You wouldn't say-

"But I  _ did." _

It was humiliation that finally made Minako drop her gaze to the floor, and like she was melting under the unforgiving heat of her shame, she began to slump further and further into her own self, wanting to curl up and disappear completely. But… so she wouldn't be muffled, so she could make herself very clear, Minako forced herself upright once more, just long enough to stare into Junpei's inflamed face and reiterate, clear as a bell-

"Junpei.  _ Dude.  _ Yes. I really  _ did  _ say that I wanted to kiss you."

Without warning Junpei suddenly doubled over to clap his hands over his knees, as if the realization of what was happening between them had struck him a physical blow to the gut. 

_ Well, at least he finally gets it…  _ Minako thought dryly as he audibly stammered and sputtered to himself, his ability to speak lost to the short-circuiting momentarily frying up his brain.

Normally, watching him flounder so animatedly between such dramatic throes of shock and disbelief would be comical to Minako and she'd burst out laughing at his penchant for over the top theatrics, but in that moment it only made her very small and foolish. In an effort to keep herself together mentally, she took a deep shuddering breath and tightly wrapped her arms around herself, as if she could physically smoosh the bad feelings down deep enough where she couldn't feel them anymore. Without the help of her music, though, her labor was fruitless.

Leaving her mp3 player hanging untouched and heavy as an anchor around her neck, she instead took to rocking back and forth on her heels as she waited with a pained impatient grimace for Junpei to pull himself together.

And then suddenly, his mouth flew open with a gasp and for an awful second Minako thought he might actually puke all over her carpet, but instead he asked her in a single frantic rush of breath that almost made her wish he really had just thrown up instead-

"So wait, wait, wait, wait,  _ waiiiiiit! _ Minako, hey! You're being totally serious with me right now?! No bullshit? You… you want to kiss me? For  _ real?!" _

Throwing her face down into her hands with a slap, she let out a muffled and deeply embarrassed groan and nodded so hard she heard her hair pins clinking over the turbine like sound of all the blood pounding in her ears. It was impossible for her to tell what her heart might do first at this point- burst or break.

Her floor began to suddenly squeak, squeak, squeak, and she didn't have to look up to know that Junpei was now pacing himself in small, sharp-turned circles in the little amount of space he had as he continued to bombard her for clarification.

"Uhhh, like for real? You mean like, a real kiss? On...on the mouth? Or, did you mean on the cheek? Like a normal grandma kiss or... L-like… as a friend?"

The last word was like an emergency brake being popped in his runaway train of thought, bringing both his rambling and pacing to an abrupt stop, and momentarily hushed, he slowly lifted his chin to search her face for any sign of the feelings he was beginning to  _ understand _ were there, but couldn't quite  _ believe  _ in just yet. "Wait. Minako? Are you saying that...Uhhh, do you like me as more than a friend?"

Head still bowed low, Minako didn't have the strength to answer him. In that moment she felt more drained than she did after exploring multiple floors of Tartarus in a single night, of surviving a weekend long volleyball tournament with Rio, her mind and body bruised and battered with the effort. A small part of her, the one that was most devastated over the friendship she had just put at serious risk by opening her mouth, the one that was filling her eyes with hot pathetic tears and twisting her guts into nausea-inducing knots, wanted nothing more than for him to just forget she had said anything at all and shut his mouth-

And that's when she realized that while waiting for her to answer him, he had. 

She didn’t know what she expected to see when she lifted her eyes to meet his. Maybe he’d still be forcing a goofy smile on his face, deciding it was so much easier to just play the whole thing off as a joke rather than go through the excruciatingly honest conversation that lay just ahead of them. Or maybe...maybe instead of making it into a joke, he already thought it  _ was  _ one, nothing more than just some cruel prank she was playing on him to see if he’d actually fall for it. It wouldn’t be the kind of joke that’d make him laugh, that much Minako knew for certain. Rather it’d make him, as he sometimes unjustly got with her, pissed as all hell. He’d be glaring at her, eyes dark and cold with a rage that Minako knew burned not so much for her as it did inwards towards himself. 

_ Always the joker but never, ever the joke himself… He hates the good he sees in others if he doesn’t believe in exists in himself as well… _

Too afraid to even look up and see that exact rage darkening his face, to have him hurl some sort of accusation that he wasn’t dumb enough to fall for this stupid joke she probably planned out with Yukari, she assured in the most level, honest voice she could manage, more to the tops of her socked feet than she did to him directly, “Junpei, please listen. Please...don’t be mad. I’m not just saying all this to be funny, or to freak you out as some kind of joke. I know messing around and goofing on each other is like, our entire deal? But right now, I'm being serious. Like, dead serious. _ I mean it. _ Because, I…"

As fearful as she still was of his reaction, Minako knew that she owed him the delivery of her next few words face to face, so despite how raw she knew her eyes must've looked and how ruddy her cheeks must've been, she tipped her head back to stare into her best friend's face and was surprised to find he wasn’t laughing at her like it was just a joke, and he definitely was glaring at her like it was just  _ some _ joke either. He was just...watching her, waiting for her, his face neutral save for a twinge of concern in the knit of his brows. He was waiting patiently for her to gather the courage to say whatever it was she felt like she needed to say to him, and in the face of such kindness, she did.

"It took me awhile to figure it out for myself, but… I do like you, Junpei. Like, a lot. A lot more than just as a friend, or even a best friend. I really, really do, okay?" She swiped at her eyes with the heel of her palm, feeling more dumb, more selfish than she had ever felt before in her life and let out a broken hiccup of a laugh as she attempted to joke, to help ease the weight of such a massive shock, "And that's the truth. Whether you believe it… or don't."

At first, his only reaction to her confession sinking in was for his breath to catch in his throat, for a blush to creep all the way up his neck and past his cheeks to settle in a bright red glow in the tips of his ears. In a way, this alone made Minako felt like she had achieved some great and rare accomplishment in itself.  _ I’ve left Gekkoukan’s biggest, loudest motormouth completely speechless! _

When Junpei finally did speak up, he did so in a stunned murmur, his voice thick and subdued with emotions Minako couldn’t pick apart and identify individually.

"You're really serious about this? About...me?"

Usually so animated, finding ways to fidget and move even when he was just chilling on the couch or sitting in class, it was almost unsettling to see Junpei standing as still as he was right now.

Clasping her hands tightly before her, she nodded. “I am." And then she promised him, from the bottom of her heart, “Our friendship means a lot to me, Junpei.  _ You  _ mean a lot to me. I wouldn’t have risked ruining everything between us on a feeling I wasn’t sure about. But, umm-” She scratched at her cheek to hide the single tear that had traitorously dripped free from her eyelash to splash there, and forced out a laugh that sounded more like a dull broken bell than one of genuine mirth as she admitted, more to herself to him really, “Gauging by your reaction, I might have done just that. I’m sorry.I’m really, really,  _ really-” _

Suddenly and unexpectedly stern, he reprimanded her with an aggressive step forward- "Hey now, hold up! Enough with the apology, you don’t even have anything to say sorry for, ya  _ dummy!  _ You haven't  _ ruined  _ anything. It takes a lot of courage to tell someone how you really feel about ‘em like that, like the way ya just told me. I know it seems like I'm not taking it well, but it's not because I… I'm not  _ saying- _ " Junpei let out a loud huff of frustration and snatched his hat off from the top of his head, as if it alone was responsible for his inability to find the right words he was looking for. He took a minute to run his palm through what little dark fuzz of hair he had, like he could physically pull the words out through his skull, and as she watched him Minako couldn't help but wonder if touching his hair felt as peachy as she always thought it would be. At her side, her fingers twitched, curious.

After a few moments, when no magic script appeared written in his palm and the words hadn't just come tumbling out of his mouth in the perfect monologue, Junpei replaced his hat with a resigned sigh and attempted to talk it out for himself.

"I guess I'm just stumped on...like, what I'm having a real hard time wrapping my head around is...  _ why?" _

His hand began to slowly rise from where it'd been tensed at his side, his fingers gently uncurling as if he wanted to reach out for her, but then sudden uncertainty seemed to freeze him on the spot. It sat there aloft in the air between them for just a beat, but that alone was enough time for Minako to see the noticeable tremble in his fingers. 

_ Well, at least I'm not the only one nervous about all of this.  _ She blinked in silent apology and in that split second Junpei's hand was tucked tightly into his front pocket and his eyes were uncharacteristically sharp and focused as they searched her's for an honest answer to his question. "Minako, out of everyone...why  _ me?  _ Why even waste your time settling for a guy like me? _ "  _ As cruel as the question was towards himself, he asked her this with the first real smile he'd directed her way since her disastrous admittance of wanting a kiss from him, and it was as bright and soothing and familiar as the summer sun outside, and all at once it reminded her why she had feelings to confess to him at all. 

"You are like, the most incredible girl I’ve ever met! I know it might seem like I'm only teasing you when I say it, but you really are a cutie. You got this smile that can light up a whole room and your eyes are just like, full of life and...and sparks! And not to be a jerk, but usually when a girl has such a pretty face, there's something else she doesn't have to make up for it, you know? Maybe she can be just like me and be as dumb as she is good looking, or even worse- maybe she can really mean and fake to the people around her, and all that prettiness is just a mask to hide how ugly she is inside. But Minako, you…!" he splayed his arms in a wide, awe-inspired circle around her and declared like a man preaching a gospel he believed in with every fiber of his being, "You're like a unicorn, dude! You are the ultra rare, once in a lifetime find of a girl who is the complete package." He began to tick them off his fingers, "You're pretty, smart, kind, and you're…" Junpei's hand slowly closed into a fist, and he stared at it hard, thinking even harder about what he was about to say next before swallowing thickly and finally assuring her with a smile that was full of apology and twinged with self-realized shame, "You're an  _ amazing  _ leader to the team. I know that I've been a total asshole to you about that, and not just on one occasion either, but... it's only because I get jealous of how true that fact is. I could never lead us and hold everyone together the way that you do, I would just screw it all up. Minako, you are a great girl, and I… I really care about you. I know we haven’t known each other all  _ that _ long, but through everything we’ve been through together this year so far, good and bad, you’ve become someone really important to me. Really,  _ really  _ important to me. I just don’t want you to make the wrong choice by thinking you have to settle for me when you can easily find someone who deserves you more, is all.”

His words, as warm and sweet as clover honey, should have filled Minako up with bright blooms of emotion. She should have had blushing red posies in her cheeks and bouncing yellow buttercups in her belly, an entire garden's worth of roses dancing in her brain and filling her vision with bright pink joy.

Junpei could not have spoken of her any more kindly, could not hold her in any higher regard than he had just revealed. But from her spot way up high on the empty pedestal he had placed her on, there was only a bitter taste in Minako's mouth, a painful thorn piercing into her heart.

The frown slowly taking claim of her face had nothing to do with the way Junpei spoke of her, not in the least. No, the reason her hands were balling into tight fists down at her thighs, why there was the hot creep of anger making its way up the back of her neck, had nothing to do with her, but everything to do with him.

She tried to keep her voice steady but even in her own ears she could hear the sharp ripple of irritation in her tone. “Settling…? Deserving..? Why are you talking about me like I’m some kind of… I don’t know, _princess_ or something! I’m not locked up in some Tartarus like tower waiting for a perfect, no flaw prince charming to come in and save me! That’s not what I’m looking for here, I’m not that dumb. When it comes to who I like this way, it's not about who I think is _good enough _for my attention or whatever. Dude, that is so..._ugh! _How stuck up do you think I actually am? That'd be so-" 

She could feel the heat of her temper beginning to burn hotter than she could control, saw it in the way Junpei leaned back with an almost sad look on his face to give her room to burn herself out. "S-sorry," she breathed, suddenly feeling pathetic instead of empowered. She'd been so quick to assume Junpei would be the one to lose his temper first and yet there she was, beating him to it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak out like that." she said again with her chin leveled straight, not trying to flinch away from taking responsibility for her outburst, even as embarrassing as it was. 

_ As a good leader should. _

Unclenching her fists as if she was physically letting go of the last tendrils of her anger and with a deep exhale through her nose, Minako tried to explain her feelings once more, "All I want is… I want someone who I can truly be myself around, someone who can see not just all the fun happy sides of me but the angry crybaby parts too and still wanna hang around me anyways. You know, someone who can make me laugh and smile even when I want to do nothing but cry. Someone who I know always has my back. And Junpei, dude, that’s  _ you.  _ Why would I waste my time looking around for someone better when the absolute best is already standing right in front of me? _ ” _

Despite the earnestness of her speech, the audible devotion in her every word, he still didn’t seem to be believe what she was telling him, his lack of genuine self-esteem muffling her words to meaningless noise. Rubbing idly at the back of his neck, his necklace jingling against his chest with the movement, he ventured carefully, not wanting to blow her off entirely, "I mean, I guess it's ultimately  _ your  _ call on whether or not you think I'm worth your time, but…” He shrugged, almost nonchalantly as he easily put himself down to assure her, “I know for a fact you can do a lot better than me, Minako.”

Still feeling just a little bit heated, and desperate for him to understand, to believe not just in her but in himself too, she took his words as a challenge and stepped towards him with her shoulders squared.

"Oh yeah? Well, maybe you need to recheck your  _ facts,”  _ She curled two sarcastic fingers around the word and rolled it off her tongue with the same amount of disgust she’d use to sip bitter black coffee, “But what if I don't think there's anyone better than you, Junpei? What if I don't just think being with you is... _ worth  _ my time, but the best thing I could use my time for? What then?" And then that last lingering wisp of fight left her entirely and she asked in a voice as soft and crumpled as tissue, “What would you think of me then?”

It was the million dollar question.

“I would think…” Junepi sighed from somewhere deep, deep down in his chest and angled himself away from the sight of her imploring eyes, even going as far to pinch the brim of his hat a little lower to obscure whatever feelings were swimming in his own. When he finally spoke, all the usual bravado in his voice was gone, leaving a slight wavering in his syllables that betrayed how vulnerable he was about to be with her. Minanko could tell from the sound of his voice alone that it must have taken all the courage he had to be honest with her the way he was about to be, that he feared the same consequences she did about sharing such sensitive feelings. “I wouldn’t know what to think, really. Or...or even how to feel about that. About you. About me  _ and  _ you, together like... _ that.  _ And that’s probably because, honestly? It’s just something that never even crossed my mind, that you and me being more than just friends was even an option to consider...I’m sorry Minako, I know that’s probably not the coolest thing to hear but it’s, well...the truth.”

“Ahh.  _ Well.”  _ She nodded in what appeared to be calm acceptance, but the crack in her voice, as deep and dark as a trench at the bottom of the sea, gave away what she was actually feeling in her heart at his words. “I see.”

_ Told you so, told you so!  _ Cheered the part of her brain that had been warning her of this outcome from the very beginning, the cruel little voice in her brain that was usually nothing more than an annoying miniscule squeak in comparison to the mighty, happy-go-lucky boom of her own self-confidence. In the present moment, though, it did a lot more than just its usual whisper at her. It positively roared in its negativity, shaking her to her core and bringing a batch of scorching hot tears to her eyes.

_ You stupid, greedy selfish little girl! He already gave you so much of himself just by being your friend, and yet you still wanted more? You really just thought he’d jump to accept your feelings like they were some kind of prize but- _

“But at the same time…”

The sudden sound of Junpei’s voice, unexpectedly as warm and soft as her favorite blanket, was enough to smother the vicious noise in her brain back into immediate silence and through tear-blurred vision she looked up to find him smiling shyly down at the floor, one hand idly thumbing at the pendant on his necklace. It was hard to tell if he was speaking more to her or himself as he carried on in a carefully optimistic voice, “The idea itself isn’t that bad. Not at all...To be with someone who you already know likes you exactly for who you are, who has seen you living it up at your best and being a total asshole at your worst, and yet they  _ still  _ wanna hang around you anyways? That’s not a bad deal, not one bit. Yeah...yeah, and considering something, or y’know, even  _ someone  _ from a new angle can be a pretty scary thought at first, kinda like looking into a mirror and not recognizing who you see staring back at you on the other side-”

_ A window? Does he mean a window? I’m pretty sure he just described a window and not a mirror.  _ Minako pondered, but didn’t dare risk asking him aloud and ruining the moment he was trying so hard to work towards, and instead nodded along with him in only somewhat false understanding.

“But if you’re brave enough to look anyways, and check it out from a different point of view, you might luck out and find that it’s even better than before, that it’s even more than what you thought you could hope for. Yeah, as long as you give it a shot, right?”

As his last question sank syllable by syllable into her brain for processing, she felt her heart slowing down, down, down the more she fathomed what he was saying. “Junpei, are you saying,” She paused to tent her fingers together in front of her face in careful contemplation, trying to keep her breathing calm and even, before it dawned on her how far beyond the point it was to be tip-toeing around what needed to be said between them, so turning her hands to point at him with all ten fingers she got straight to the point and simply asked, “Are you saying you’ll give dating me a shot? Is that what you’re saying to me, right now, exactly? You’re saying that you  _ want  _ to date me too?”

“Jeez, Minako! With you being top of the class and all, I thought you'd be a little quicker on the uptake than this!” With a boyish chuckle at her barely contained excitement, he smiled up at her shyly from under the brim of his hat and confirmed, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying. If you’re willing to give this a go, then count me in too.”

And to anyone else, that would’ve been enough confirmation for them to start celebrating having just successfully asked out their crush. But even with Junpei staring at her with blushing cheeks and shining eyes, there was still a consistent doubt worming fearful and guilty around in her mind, and that was the feeling that Junpei was accepting her confession solely just to make her happy, regardless of how he actually felt about it for himself. 

She knew he’d only deny it if she were to ask him about it outright, that he’d insist he was sure in his decision and then quickly add with a laugh that man, what a trip it was that she was now not just his girl friend but literal  _ girlfriend  _ and  _ wow, what will the others say- _

So going about it the sneakier way, only adding on to her already gnawing sense of guilt, Minako tucked her hair behind her ears and asked him as sweetly, as innocently as she could manage, "Soooo...wow! What do we do now? I didn’t think we’d actually make it this far! I’m ummm, kinda at a loss on where to go from here if I’m being honest!"

He took the bait right away, confirming what she’d been suspecting from the very second he 'accepted' her confession. "Heh, you're asking me? You're the Leader! It's your call, whatever you wanna do now is up to you, Mina-tan. You’ve never steered us- well, you know,  _ me,  _ wrong before!”

_ And there it is.... _

Shaking her head, Minako backed away from him a step, and then two as she gazed into his face with a quiet, understanding sadness. "No, not this time. This isn’t how this is going to work. This isn’t how it  _ should  _ work. This isn't just some leave it to leader kind of decision where only one of us decides what's going to happen, especially not me alone. That’d be so unfair to the both of us. Junpei, just tell me how you  _ really  _ feel!"

“Uhhh!” Suddenly flustered, realizing he’d been caught in his dishonesty but not wanting to admit it entirely, he stammered out in a feeble attempt at his usual confusion, “I mean, uuhhh? W-what do you mean, Mina-tan? Isn’t this what you wanted? Why are you suddenly so-”

She needed him to understand more than anything that what she wanted was not the most important outcome of this entire ordeal, and abruptly cut him off.

“Junpei, you already know how I feel about you and how I want things to go between us, but… I only want those things as much as you do. If you don't feel the same way about me, then that is totally okay. Even if it's only as teammates, or as friends, as long as we get to stick together and have fun like we always do I'll be happy. I think that was the biggest reason I was afraid of these feelings to begin with, why I refused to acknowledge them for what they really were for so long? To just have you turn me down would be one thing, I would respect your decision either way and still continue to care for you as my friend with everything I got. That alone wouldn’t change a thing. But...to have you reject me, and then feel so bad about it, or creeped out by it that you’d start to avoid me, maybe not even want to be my friend anymore… That’s what really scared me. To think that we’d never go back to the arcade together and scream so loud playing Horror House that the owner would threaten to kick us out, or that we wouldn’t have our weekly after school walk to the manga shop to get all our new reads together...To never have you share your stupid jokes or your scary stories to me or your big, dumb, beautiful smile with me again… That was the worst thing I could think of. But now I realize there’s something even  _ worse  _ than losing you and all of that fun we have together, and that is  _ keeping _ you and all those things just because you feel too guilty to be honest with me about how you actually feel. Your feelings matter just as much as mine do, Junpei, and you deserve to share them with me as honestly as I did with mine. So however you feel about me right now, and even how you feel about this all later after thinking it all over, please,  _ please… _ just be honest about it, okay?”

Stitching up the best lopsided smile she could manage, she crooked up one arm in a typical flex and used the other to tap the small hump of muscle there. "I'm a tough girl, see? I promise no matter what you tell me, I'll be just fine. And not just that, but  _ we _ …" following his lead from their morning talk in the kitchen, she extended him her clenched fist, a promise of unwavering support between best friends."We will be just fine too. We will  _ always  _ be best friends and that will never  _ ever  _ change!”

Completely silent, Junei stared hard at her aloft fist, not saying anything in response for a long time. Confused as to why he’d leave her hanging like this especially after spilling all the guts she had left to spill after such a long afternoon, Minako searched his face for a sign for what he might have been thinking in that moment, what he might have been feeling, and found it in the sudden and watery shine in his eyes, the twitch in his bottom lip. His body too betrayed him in the way his chest began to silently heave in small, miniscule jumps, the sudden tremor in his arms.

Concerned, she went to finally drop her fist and check on him when he beat her to reacting first- knocking her outstretched arm off to the side so that he could wrap her up in a tight, bone-crushing hug, her feet lifting slightly off the floor from where he pulled her closer and up into him. 

“Minako…!” He sniffed loudly, pressing his cheek hard into the top of her head.

She barely even heard him over the sound of his heart thundering loud and hard as a drum right beside her ear. Startled and only suffocating a little bit from where she was being crushed against him, she barely managed to gasp back at him, her mouth full with the cotton fabric of his tank top, “J-Junpei!”

It tasted like he hadn’t washed it in days and if she had the extra air in her lungs to do so, she would’ve openly gagged.  _ “Junpei!” _

He took the repetition of his name less as a plea for him to loosen his grip and let her go and more like they were sharing an emotional exchange of names. “Minako, you really are my best friend!” He assured her with a watery laugh. “I don’t think anyone has ever given a damn about me and how I feel as much as you do, you know that?”

“I know…” She wheezed back, but not in agreement. Her arms pinned tight to her sides, she began to feebly swat at his legs with what little movement she could get out of her hands. Spots were beginning to pop as colorful and bright as fireworks before her eyes, and she knew she only had enough air left in her lungs to warn him, “I know that you’re... _ crushing me!”  _ with a tiny, airless gasp.

“Wha-whoops! My bad!” Junpei released her at once, laughing sheepishly as she momentarily stumbled around coughing and wheezing, desperately trying to catch back all the breath that’d been squeezed out of her. “I guess I don’t know my own strength when I get all mushy and teary-eyed like that, haha!”

Clutching at her still heaving chest, Minako couldn’t help but wonder as she stared at his dopey, adorable smile-  _ Why the hell does he use a sword to fight shadows when he can just bear hug them all to death!?  _

It was when she had finally gotten her breathing back to normal and had a few sips of water from the sink in her room that Junpei shared with her with all the confidence in the world, back to his usual bravado- “Mina-tan, you’re not gonna believe this but I know  _ exactly  _ what we gotta do to figure this all out! This whole if we should just be friends or try to be something more thing, I mean!”

She clapped her hands together in excited agreement, practically bouncing on the spot. “You’re right, dude! I  _ don’t  _ believe you!” 

His scowl told her now was not the time to be acting a smart-ass, and she apologized with a shrug and a tired half-smile, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be mean about it, but… I really don’t think there is any one simple solution for this kind of y’know…” She rotated her hand in a circle on her wrist, trying to find the right word to describe what was happening between them right now.  _ Trouble  _ made it seem so much more negative than it was, and while the word  _ drama  _ was exactly what this nonsense had become, it also sounded too cheezy to say out loud. So she went for the word that she’d been using in secret, a good balanced word that both of them were quite familiar with as Persona users,  _ “Weirdness.” _

Like he was one of the beauty gurus whose videos Minako sometimes watched with Yukari, Junpei wagged a disapproving finger her way,  _ tsk _ ’ing her lack of belief in both him and whatever solution he’d come up with. “Ah ah, don’t be so quick to pass judgement on this one! Especially considering that it was  _ your  _ idea first, Minako!”

_ “My?”  _ She parroted back in confusion, slowly unfolding her arms from where she’d had them crossed over her still squished, aching chest. “What do you-”

Sudden realization froze her to the spot, and she stared at Junpei with wide open eyes and a slack jaw to match. She could already feel her face burning hot and red all the way up her cheeks to under her bangs. “Oh, Junpei. Oh, dude, no! You're not gonna say we should just-”

“Yep, you got it!” Now it was his turn to loudly clap his hands together as he announced his grand scheme to solve all their confusing emotional woes, “We are gonna kiss and see how it makes us feel!”

He had proclaimed it with his usual loud and cheery confidence, but the look on his sweaty, wide-eyed face was anything but. He looked absolutely terrified, like he had suggested they go sky-diving without parachutes or for that they should have a leisurely stroll through Paulownia’s perfume department without gas masks on.

"Junpei!  _ Listen to yourself! _ " Minako practically shrieked in exasperation, her hands shooting out quick as serpents to grip his forearms and shake him as hard as she could, hoping she could rattle some sense back into his apparently empty head. "That is like...the  _ worst  _ thing we could do! And like, the most cliche thing too! We should kiss to figure our feelings out? Seriously? This isn’t like one your mangas!”

"I should listen to myself?" Junpei argued back, squaring back his elbows so that he could also clutch at Minako's arms and give her an irritated shake in return. "You should be the one listening to  _ yourself!  _ You're the one who said you wanted to kiss first! This is technically  _ your  _ idea!"

“N-no! That was! This is!” As true as his statement was, she sputtered in flustered indignation over it all the same, “This is not what I meant! I meant that I...I wanted to k-kiss you in, you know, like general!” She wouldn’t have been surprised if steam had begun to billow out of her ears at that point, her face feeling hot as a griddle. “But only if I knew for certain that you wanted to kiss me too-”

“Do you think I would have even suggested an idea like this if  _ some  _ part of me didn’t want to kiss you too-”

“That’s just the part of you that feels bad for me!” Rattled, both mentally by his sudden admittance and literally as he gave her another exasperated shake, Minako argued back with an almost frantic shout, using her stubbornness to mask just how terrified she truly felt that she was somehow manipulating him into pitying her, into doing something he didn’t want to do just to protect their friendship from falling apart, she insisted, “And I told you it’s okay that you don’t like me back! I  _ know _ that you don’t! We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to-”

Suddenly tightening his grip on her hard enough that it almost hurt, Junpei practically roared at her as he finally lost his patience with her maddening back and forth, “Dammit, Minako! You don't know shit about how I feel! But maybe if you’d just calm down and listen to me for a second you’d understand what I’m trying to tell you! I do want to! I  _ do  _ want this! I'm just as scared as you are about how this is gonna change everything between us! You’re not the only one of us who has all these crazy, confusing as shit feelings going on right now, alright?!  _ Fuck!” _

The heat of his anger, as sudden and severe as a solar flare and gone just as quickly seemed to wilt him like a flower bereft of water out in the desert and with a empty, broken sigh he let his hands drop limply from her arms so that he could instead hide his face in them, embarrassed and ashamed of his outburst.  _ “Fuck…”  _

His temper was probably the only gift his drunk bastard of a father had ever given him. It set pins and needles into Minako’s heart whenever he directed it her way, broke her heart even more so to know that for every cruel thing he might spit out like venom through his teeth whenever he was in one of those moods, whatever he was poisoning his own self with internally was even worse. Watching him slowly crumple further within himself behind his hands, she thought back to what he’d been openly saying about himself earlier, the words slipping out as easily as he would describe grass as being green and Tartarus as being tall.

_ Why even waste your time on a guy like me… _

_ Be just like me and be as dumb… _

_ I could never...I would just screw it all up… _

He had slumped back away from her to put some noticeable space between them, creating both a physical and emotional trench that seemed to put miles between where they stood just feet apart, but with those words echoing in his voice within her brain, Minako found herself slowly inching her way back to his side, worried not for herself but for him entirely.

She parted her lips, went to breathe his name to see if he’d even respond, when he surprised her by lifting his face from his hands and warned her with a small, half-stitched broken smile, “Don’t you even try to go and say sorry to me before I say it to you first, alright?” His red rimmed eyes looked so sad and tired, the same gray as a neglected tombstone. “In fact, I don’t even want to hear you say it at all. You got no reason to. I know you’re my leader and all, Mina-tan, but can you take this one order from me, please? Just this once?  _ Please?” _

Stubborn as always, she immediately opened her mouth to protest, but then she took one look into Junpei’s face and saw the shame there, the self-loathing in his smile, and as kind as always, as loyal to her best friend as always, she respected his request and instead only murmured, “Okay.”

They sat in that silence, as thick and heavy as the velvet lining of a coffin, for a good while as Junpei slowly calmed himself down, his eyes shut tight and his chest rising and falling with the deep, slow breaths he was taking. Not wanting him to feel rushed, or that she was closely observing him and silently fretting, Minako tentatively reached out and poked him gingerly in the shoulder. 

When he opened his eyes, he found her wordlessly offering him one of her earphones in the palm of her hand, the other already slipped over her ear closest to him. The gesture was enough to bring a small ghost of his usual smile back to his face, and with an appreciative nod he took it from her, shuffling closer to her side so that the thin black wire wouldn’t have to stretch so far between them. 

As she pressed play and music began to fill their ears and gently cleanse the hurt in their hearts and brains, they found themselves sinking to sit more comfortably down on the floor side by side, their knees just barely touching.

_ I know and you know that things aren’t the same, _

_ But that doesn’t matter, things just change. _

_ So lay it down and let me know and I’ll be around, _

_ If you need me, if you need me… _

“Hey.”

They had only listened to a couple of songs when Junpei leaned over and nudged Minako’s shoulder with his, signaling that it was time for them to talk. As he passed her earphone back into her hand, he gently grasped it in his own and stood, helping her up to her feet as well in the process.

“Thanks.” She smiled at him, smoothing out the wrinkles in her skirt and returning her headphones back to their usual perch around her neck.

“I’m sorry for yelling.” He sighed back, and his voice had regained some of its usual character, swelled back up from the thin rasp it’d been after his outburst. He pondered something in silence for a moment before he apologized to her again, “I’m sorry for always having so many things to apologize to you for. You’re always so nice to me, even when I don’t deserve it.” He gestured to the silver mp3 player and crimson headphones she had just shared with him. "Like with that. It’s exactly why I’m having such a hard time believing you actually want to be more than friends with me when I can barely even manage the  _ friends  _ part on my end.”

“Junpei,” Minako turned to him to reassure him that he was okay, that she understood he was still learning how to properly cope with the black, stinging barb of anger lanced into his heart, and that it would take a lot of time and even more work until he’d be able to properly pull it out, and even then it might not ever be completely withdrawn- but he dismissed her with a wave of his hand and a firm shake of his head.

“Nuh-uh. Don’t you stand there and stare at me with those big sad doe eyes of your’s and try to make some dumb excuse for me, Minako. A real man can’t just explain his own bullshit away and expected to be forgiven for it every time. He’s got to own up to it. He has to make the effort to change and be better for the people around him, especially the people he cares about most.” His eyes found her’s and he didn’t even blink, didn’t flinch away as he explained further, “He has to be  _ honest.  _ And that means with himself, too.”

Taking a deep breath first, gathering up all his courage, all of his honesty, he asked her, “Minako, earlier you told me that how I feel about things matters. I just gotta make sure... you weren’t just bullshitting me, right?”

His question left her stricken with panic that she had left him with any doubt about it at all. “W-what? No! Of course not! I really meant it when I said-”

“Then you gotta believe me when I say that _this, _whatever is changing between us right now, is something that I _do_ actually want. And not just for your sake either like you seem so convinced of. It’s something I want for myself too. And, y’know… for _us. _And kind of like with oh, only _everything_ I’ve ever done with my life, I have no idea if this will work the way I think it will at all and it kinda freaks me the hell out! Because this is _really _important to me that this goes well, and that’s because _you’re _really important to me. I don’t know if we’ll kiss and suddenly_ those_ feelings will just click and we’ll be this picture perfect couple, or if they won’t and we’ll just sort of shrug and say ‘_oh, well that was weird let’s never ever do that again!’. _But there is one thing I do know for a fact and that is that I trust you completely, okay?”

“You trust me?” Her one headphone pinched tightly between her forefinger and thumb, the one that had been cradled against Junpei’s face and still retained some of his warmth, Minako subconsciously began to spin and tug on it as she attempted to understand what he was trying to say. Well, not so much understand as it was to  _ believe.  _ “Like...to be a good kisser? Ummm, a-actually! You’d be my first, Junpei…”

The intense, serious expression on his face broke into one of wide-eyed shock as he gawked at her admittance, and with that the Junpei she knew and loved best was standing back before her once more. “W-what? Seriously? You’ve seriously never kissed  _ anyone?!  _ You seem so popular with other guys, I would’ve thought for sure that you must have ahhh-anyways! That is not even what I was trying to say, you ditz!  _ Jeez!  _ Way to ruin the moment there! Ugghh, now where was I? Hmph... _ ”  _ He let out a small, almost pouty huff before recomposing himself and continuing on with the point he’d originally been trying to make, “What I  _ mean... _ is that I trust you when you say that no matter what happens, you ‘n me will always be friends. Because that’s something  _ I  _ believe in with my whole heart too. Something as minor as a stupid first kiss will never compare to all the crazy shit we’ve already been through together! You and me?” He wagged his finger between his chest and her’s before opening his palm up for a high five, “We’re ride or die, no matter what!”

“Heheh...yeah!” Minako slapped her hand tightly into his, not even minding how slick with sweat it already was. She was sure her’s was sweating just as much, really. “Ride or die!”

“Yeah! Even if this kiss is the worst one ever!” Junpei gave her hand a teasing, playful squeeze to show that he was just joking, as he usually was. “Like, if we go into way too fast and crack our heads together and knock each other out-”

“Hahaha, dude, what? That won’t-”

“Or if you get waaaay to into it and like, try to slip me some tongue but all you do is get drool all over my handsome face because you don’t know what you’re doing-”

“Oh my god, Junpei! Hahaha! What the hell are you-”

“Or, ooh!  _ Ooooohhhh!  _ Maybe we’ll both get like, so into it that we won’t remember to take breaks to breathe and then we’ll die in each other’s arms all romantic and tragic like!” He used his one free hand to dramatically fling it over his face and threw his head back limply over his shoulder, like he was some kind of Shakespearean actor. “They’ll probably even write books about us that’ll get turned into movies that everyone who read the books will hate!”

“Dude, oh my god, shut up!” Minako wretched her hand free from his to furiously swat and shove at him, and they burst into laughter together as they jostled one another back and forth. It was almost funny how normal, how typical they were able to be with each other in that moment considering their current situation was anything but. For a second, it was nice just to forget what they were about to attempt...but then the second passed and Minako reminded them both by playfully threatening him, “If you keep running your mouth like that I’m gonna change my mind about wanting to kiss it, you know!”

Her words brought their rough-housing to an immediate suspension, and with both their faces glowing hot with blush, they shyly brought their hands back to themselves. Junpei fiddling with the brim of his hat, and Minako toying with the headphones around her neck.

“O-oh, right!”

“Y-yeah…”

For a few moments, the air between them was stuffy and warm with their combined nervous energy, but it wasn’t all that negative feeling anymore, not really. There was an almost  _ exciting  _ undercurrent to it, a sense of thrill even. To Minako, it felt a lot like the same feeling of being in a roller coaster’s car as it creeps it way higher and higher up the hill of the first big drop. A little scary, sure, not knowing where she and Junpei were gonna end up at the bottom, but... knowing that no matter what they’d get there together, it made her feel brave enough to want to find out.

“So,” she breathed in deeply through her nose and asked him one last time with a tilt of her head. “You really want to do this, right? You’re sure?”

Junpei swallowed hard, his adam’s apple visibly lurching with the effort against the sudden nervous tension in his throat, but he agreed with a rasp, “Y-yeah! Yeah, I really am. I’m so ready to do this thing!” Trying to hype himself up with false bravado, he went to pump his fist into the air but only made it as far as his chin before he stopped abruptly and rushed to double check with her as well, his voice coming out in a worried rush, “Oh! But only if you’re still down! If you haven’t changed your mind about kissing me yet. You, umm, hahaha...haven’t, had you? Changed your mind about wanting to kiss me? You still do, right, Mina-tan?”

She blinked at him in heavy silence, her face completely deadpan before she gently reminded him. “Hey, Junpei? Remember how this is all happening because  _ I’m _ the one who said she wanted to kiss you earlier? You even kiiiinda pointed that out yourself like, five minutes ago?”

“Five minutes?  _ Really?  _ It’s really only been  _ fiiive  _ minutes?!” Junpei stared down at her, face enflamed from the tip of his nose to the tops of his ears before he turned away with a loud and shaky exhale. "Yep, that’s right! That’s completely right, I totally forgot! Hahahaaaa!" He wheezed, and then shaking his head he trapped his cheeks in a hard slap between both of his hands to psyche himself up for what was about to happen. "Okay, yeah! We can...we can totally do this, no problem!”

Whether he was nodding to himself or to her, Minako couldn't tell, but he was doing so hard enough his pendant was audibly jangling on its chain. "It's no big deal, right? This should be the easiest way to tell how we really feel about each other, I’m sure of it! It doesn’t have to be a big deal at all, right?”

His question sunk her like he had strapped anchors to her shoulders and shoved her off a dock, but Minako found the strength to give them a carefree shrug in response anyways. "Um, nope! Not at all! That might be kinda the best part, even? It's whatever size deal we want it to be. Big, small, nothing at all? The choice is our’s.”

"Yeah, you're totally right. I mean," he shuffled a little closer her way, the tips of their feet nearly touching and he asked her with a sheepish grin, "what's one kiss between friends, right?"

His question fell as heavy and as final as a velvet closing curtain between them then, and they both remained quiet, without trading their usual banter or teasing quips, an stunning rarity for the usual boisterous duo. 

It really was time.

Minako tipped her head up at him expectantly, and Junpei's breath seemed to catch in his throat as she gazed at him from under her messy bangs, her dark lashes.

"R-right," he stammered, raising his trembling hands out and down to gently clasp her shoulders. 

Feeling ready, so completely ready, as ready as she possibly could have been anyways, her heart nearly imploded when as Junpei was slowly leaning in, lips already pursed, he suddenly stopped and recoiled as if on a sudden second thought, his fingertips leaving the exposed skin beneath her short sleeves like ten frightened ghosts retreating back into their graves… but it was just so he could quickly spin his cap to face backwards atop his head.

She could only imagine what the look on her face must’ve looked like in that moment, because once his gaze flickered from his hands back to her he hissed through his teeth and was quick to explain himself, "Oh, uhh! Just didn't want my hat to get in the way and you know, bump you in the face or something and ruin the whole moment. N-nothing is a bigger mood killer than taking the brim of a hat straight to the nose, right? Haha...ha! Right, uhhh, here we go!”

This time his hands did make it to her arms, albeit sweaty and shaky as could be, but Minako could still feel herself gawking at him, her eyebrows shot up high under her bangs and her mouth hanging slightly open. The sight of such an expression on her face must have filled Junpei with even more doubt because he quickly retracted his hands a  _ second _ time, this time to remove his hat completely.

"O-oh, uh, that's right! Duuuh, my bad! Haha!" Junpei laughed way too loud for it to be genuine as he fumbled to decide where to set it down, his eyes bouncing everywhere from the back of the chair down to the floor. "It's uh, more polite to take it off completely, right? That's like, what a gentleman would do, and I am so totally gonna be a perfect gentleman about this!" He declared with the utmost confidence as he finally attempted to frisbee his hat onto her desk.

"Alright, for real this time!" In the time it took for him to gingerly gather Minako back into his arms, it sailed like a blind and brainless bird clear past its intended destination to smack against the wall and tumble to the floor with an audible plop, one that seemed to reverberate throughout the entirety of the room, if not the entire dorm itself.

Though it was something as simple as a hat tumbling to the floor, they both turned to look at it at the same time as if it held great significance, sitting there upside down like a limp navy blue bowl, before Junpei shrugged and turned back to face Minako, "Oh...well?" only to find her lip trembling and eyes shimmering.

"H-hey, are you alright? Minako, are you okay? What's wrong?!"

In the time it took for her to angle herself back his way, her shoulders were starting to shake too.

The horrified expression on his face was a clear indicator of the wild, internal panic rattling his brain like the world's most confusing storm. His thoughts were most likely spinning as useless and fast as tires on wet pavement as he tried to figure why she was suddenly falling apart in his arms the way she was.

"Oh, hey hey, don't cry. Please don't cry! Whatever I did to upset ya just now, I'm sorry. I...I have no idea what I'm doing right now so I know I probably screwed  _ something  _ up. This is just like, a lot to take in and you’re freaking out and I’m definitely freaking out too and I just don’t know what to do or how to fix this and uuggghh, c'mere!"

Utterly lost on how to remedy the situation with words alone and more of a man of action anyways, Junpei embraced Minako tightly against him in what he hoped was a comforting hug, the two of them falling into each other's arms as easily as slipping into a favorite sweater. 

He raised his hand to...what? Pat her head? Rub her back? What the hell was he supposed to even do- when suddenly Minako threw her head back from where he had squished it into his shoulder and started to laugh, full and rich and loud, and he stilled for a reason other than panic alone. Her nose was all scrunched up and flushed the same bright pink as her cheeks, and her eyes were crinkled shut in delight under her thick lashes. The more she laughed the more she shook, and when she gripped his forearms to help keep herself upright, Junpei found himself clutching her closer in return, until he was supporting her completely against his chest.

"W-what? You're laughing…? Why are you laughing, what's so funny right now? Dude, I am  _ so lost!" _

Breathless in her hysterics, Minako was just barely able to agree through peals of laughter, "M-me...me too! Junpei, dude! Hahaha... _ god!  _ What are we doing? What is even  _ happening  _ with us right now? This is so… haha, this is  _ so weird _ !"

For a minute he simply let her laugh to herself, not quite understanding what was even so hysterical to begin with, but as he let his gaze wander slowly from his discarded cap on the floor, to the forgotten game still running on the computer, to Minako herself shaking with laughter in his arms, his very best friend not just in the dorm, but in the world itself, that he had just tried to kiss-

As slow and sweet as a flower blooming in spring, Junpei began to understand.

His own laughter soon began to bubble up from deep within his chest, small chuckles that quickly grew into hysterical whoops that mingled with the sound of Minako's and filled the room with joyous rambunctious noise. They laughed like children running free on a playground, untethered from the heavy knowledge of grief and pain they’d come to unfairly learn in their adolescence, completely liberated from the perplexing burden of their own hearts and the expectations they held. To anyone who might have heard their unrestrained cackles and shrieks while walking past the dorm on the street below, they probably upturned their eyes at the tall brick building and assumed they were gazing upon some sort of loony bin as opposed to a normal school dorm.

Well, definitely not normal either way.

When their laughter finally subsided into quiet hiccups, the two regarded each other with flushed faces and bright eyes.

Minako wiggled her hands free from where she'd had them pressed against Junpei's chest to swipe at the tears shimmering on her lashes and joked, "G-god, Junpei... What were we laughing about again? It couldn't have been any of  _ your  _ jokes if we were laughing that hard about it, right?"

Snorting in response so she couldn't tell how impressed he was with her zinger, Junpei merely knocked their heads together in a gentle headbutt and sneered, "Yeah, yeah- don't even try to pretend like you don't think my jokes are the best! You love them and you know it."

"Haha, yeah. You're right." Minako returned the headbutt with a soft breathy laugh, and upturned her face just enough that the tips of their noses just barely brushed. Her eyes looking straight into his, warm crimson meeting cool gray, she admitted in a hush, "I really do."

If they had been the stars of a teen drama like the ones that Yukari liked to binge watch and sniffle over in the dorm lounge, this would have been where the closeup of the big first kiss would've happened between them. Their true feelings for the other suddenly crystal clear, Junpei would have been manly, Minako would have been beautiful, and the moment would have pure magic with soft pretty music playing in the background.

But that wasn't who they were, not by a long shot. Instead they pulled away from one another with good-humored smiles, shaking their heads in disbelief over what they had just been about to do.

“Wow, were we really just about to have our first kiss together? Just like that?” Junpei asked over his shoulder as he trotted over to where his hat, the cause of so much trouble and savior of even more, lay on the floor. “Is that even something that gets planned, usually? I thought first kisses were like, a spur of the moment,  _ just have to do it right now  _ kinda thing? Y’know, like when two people in an action movie kiss after surviving a big explosion together. Or after running away from a hungry dinosaur. Or-”

“Surviving a sinking ship and just barely making it to the life boats together?” Side-stepping any blame heading in her direction, Minako was quick to point out with her hands held up in total innocence, “And hey, I only said I  _ wanted  _ to kiss you, dude!  _ You  _ were the one who suggested we do it for real, you know!”

Junpei, who had been slapping his hat against his thigh to shake off any dust it had gathered from the floor, paused at her words, his eyes staring down at the hat in his hands for a very long time before they flickered up towards Minako’s face and he agreed, unusually quiet, “Huh...yeah. I guess I did.”

And then he stood to his full height and shrugged, the easy-going smile on his face not quite reaching the strange, thoughtful look in his eyes. His cap swayed from his fingers and he made no effort to put it back on over his short buzz of dark hair. “Well… it’s not like we have to rush things, right? Maybe we can just sort of take things step by step, see where we end up? Maybe kissing will happen further down the road?”

“Y-yeah?” The hopeful look in his face coupled with the implication of his words made Minako’s heart soar with excitement, and she bubbled into giddy laughter as he shuffled back over towards her slowly. “Yeah! Of course, dude! And even if it takes a long time to get there, or we never even get there at all, I think as long as we keep sticking together through everything, good and bad-” She flashed him a big thumb’s up and a bright, happy smile, “I think as long as we’re together, we’ll be a-okay!”

“Heh...yeah, you said it Mina-tan.” 

Grinning, Junpei slapped his hat down over the auburn poof of her ponytail, twisted the brim down low and snug over her eyes to momentarily blind her vision with deep dark blue.

“H-hey! Junpei!” Minako cried, and pushing his hat up from over her eyes she found him leaned in close with his own eyes closed, his hand cupped on the swell of her cheek-

And she just barely had the time to lean up on her tiptoes and meet him halfway there, her feet pressing a soft squeak up from the floor as she did so.

It wasn’t a perfect Hollywood made kiss by any means. Just as Junpei had eerily predicted earlier, they both leaned in for it way too quick and knacked their teeth together, and the brim of his own hat bumped Junpei hard enough in the forehead that it went toppling straight off of Minako’s head, tangling up in the wires connecting her earphones to her mp3 player in its descent and dragging all of it down in a jumbled mess down over her feet with a muffled clatter.

"O-oh." Minako breathed when she settled her heels back down onto the floor completely, as if the kiss had been truly wonderful, completely perfect. In her heart and in her mind, it truly had been both, and she felt a little bit dizzy and almost euphoric with the thought. Dissolving into a fit of giggles she couldn't stop, didn't want to stop, she beamed at Junpei and squeaked, “Oh my gosh, that wasn’t  _ down the road  _ at all, Junpei!  _ Oh my gosh!”  _ before burying her face into his chest in joyful embarrassment.

A big dopey grin lighting up his entire face as well, Junpei nodded in shameless agreement. "Hahaha! Yeeeah, that wasn’t even down the block now, was it? That was more like, what? Three steps from your desk?" he plopped his chin atop the messy fluff of her ponytail, and wrapping her up in another tight hug, mused aloud with a happy sigh, "Y’know what? Before, whenever I thought about what my first kiss was gonna be like, I always imagined it was gonna be with some smokin' hot babe! That was my goal, to make sure my first kiss was with a true blue cutie."

"Oh really? So that was your first kiss too, huh, Hot Shot?" Minako leaned away to arch a brow at him, her lips quirked in a peculiar line as she recalled his previous teasing over her own lack of experience. "Hmm! That’s some life goal to have there, dude." She countered airily, bracing her hands flat against his chest. And then absolutely daring him, asked, "Weeell? Mission accomplished?"

"Oh, it so totally is!  _ I'm da man! _ " Junpei cheered in absolute jubilation, and then with a shit-eating grin and a wink in his eye he promised as much as he did warn Minako, "And that means...you’re not just my dude anymore. You're  _ my girl!” _

With that he suddenly hoisted her up into the air in a wild, giddy spin of victory and she screamed with surprised delight in response, clinging tightly to his neck all the while.

_ I am never letting go.  _ She swore to Junpei, she swore to herself in that moment of pure unapologetic bliss. Tartarus could throw whatever kind of Shadow it wanted at her, as many as it could. The creepy green moon of the Midnight Hour could open up like some giant all-seeing eye and fill the streets with red blood and black coffins in a forever lasting midnight if it so dared. In his arms, by his side, she felt completely unstoppable.  _ I am never ever letting you go! _

When he finally set her back down, breathless and bubbly, his eyes were alight with a sudden idea. "Hey, so I was just thinking-"

"Wow!" She gasped, and raised a dainty hand to hide the little 'o' of surprise her mouth had become, "Kissing  _ and  _ thinking? You're having all kinds of firsts today, dude. Way to go!"

_ Dating or not, I don't think I'll ever stop teasing him like this… Sorry, Junpei! _

His eyebrows shooting up high under the brim of his hat before dipping down into a devilish look, he threatened her with a playful glint in his eye, "Yeah? Keep talking shit Mina-tan and I'll have another first to tally up today- tickling someone until they pass out and then eating the entire stash of candy they keep hidden behind their desk! Those peach gummies are  _ mine!"  _

And this hands were upon her in an unrelenting flurry, poking and pinching at her belly and sides faster than she could bat them away. And then experiencing a first of her own, Minako found herself utterly defeated and begging for mercy.

"No, Junpei, noooo-hahaha! Haha, please, I'm sorry, so so snrk-hahaha, sorry! Junpei, please!  _ I'm sorry!" _

"Haha, now you are!" Looking quite pleased with himself, he finally dropped his hands from their merciless attack to gently take hold of both of her's. "You gonna listen to my totally awesome idea now or what?"

Watching their clasped hands sway between them with a tender expression on her face, Minako replied almost dreamily, "Heheh, I'm listening. For real this time!"

Following her line of sight, Junpei smiled warmly and gave her fingers a gentle squeeze with his own. "Well, I was just thinking that if you and me are gonna do this thing, we should, y'know, do it right. Nice 'n proper!"

"O-oh?" Biting back a laugh at the sheer cheeziness of the line and how seriously he had delivered it, she instead asked him with a curious tilt of her head, "And what does  _ nice and proper  _ entail exactly, Mr. Perfect Gentleman Iori?”

"I gotta take you out on our first date! And there isn't any kind of first date better than a good movie with an even better food afterwards, right?" Unfazed by the teasing nickname, Junpei beamed at her brightly and released one of her hands so that he could begin leading her toward the door. "I know that usually happens before the first kiss, buuuut!" Swinging the door open, he stopped and gave her a playful wink, "We aren't the usual kind of couple now are we?"

"No." Pressing herself closer into his side as they spilled out into the hallway, leaving her computer on and running with a game long since forgotten, she happily agreed with him, "We sure as hell are not!"   
  


**Author's Note:**

> You ever have a ship that's both your BROTP and OTP? Yeah.
> 
> The song they listen to together during calm down time is Buddy by All Dogs and it is a very good jam for them and their relationship!
> 
> ....Sorry Chidori :(


End file.
